SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drury Panthers, trailing from the start, missed on a last-second desperation three-point attempt that could have tied the game and fell short in an 83-80 loss to the Quincy Hawks on Friday afternoon at the O’Reilly Family Event Center, in a game delayed by one day due to inclement weather.
Drury found themselves behind by 14 points in both halves against the Hawks, but was able to battle back to within two midway through the second half and to within three with 20 seconds remaining and the Hawks leading by the final margin.
The Panthers fouled, and then a missed Quincy free throw gave the Panthers the ball and the opportunity to look for the game-tying shot, but a deep three-point attempt fell short and the Hawks escaped with the win.
“We made a few too many errors in the second half to come from the deficit we were looking at,” said Drury head coach Chris Foster. “If we play a little better in the first half, then those runs that got us back and close could have meant more.”
The Panther’s second-half comeback was fueled by the long-range shooting of sophomore Quenton Shelton who drained four late three-point shots and finished with 19 points.
Senior Victor Nwagbarachoa had ten second-half points and finished with 16. Junior Malek Davis had 15 for the Panthers and senior Obi Okafor added 13.
“It was good to see Quenton hitting some big shots, but he was also getting active in the paint and doing some things there, and that’s when he’s at his best,” added Foster.
The loss dropped the Panthers to 9-15 overall on the season, and 6-10 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
The Hawks, now 15-14 and 8-11 in the GLVC were paced in scoring by Paul Zilinskas who had a game-high 21 points.
The Panthers will conclude their regular season schedule on Saturday, February 26th, when they entertain Illinois-Springfield in a 3 pm contest during Senior Day activities at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
