SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – On Senior Day it was fitting that a senior, Victor Nwagbarachoa, would play hero, as he drained a 15-foot baseline jumper at the buzzer to give the Drury Panthers a thrilling 62-61 win over the Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars at the O’Reilly Family Event Center on Saturday afternoon.
Nwagabarachoa’s game-winner capped an impressive comeback effort for the Panthers, who had trailed by as many as 13 points early in the game, and were down 36-25 at halftime.
After the Panthers clawed back to take a one-point lead with just over four minutes to play, the two teams traded the lead a half dozen times down the stretch, leading up to the last-second heroics.
“We still had some bumps in the road offensively today, but our defense was good enough to get us back in it and have a chance to win at the end,” said Drury head coach Chris Foster. “And really, really happy for Vic on senior day, I mean, what a way to go out at the O’.”
Drury’s last-second win might not have been possible had it not been for the second-half scoring work by junior Malek Davis and sophomore Quenton Shelton. The two combined for 29 of the Panthers’ 37 second-half points. Davis scoring all 15 of his points in the final 20 minutes, and Shelton canning 14 of his team-best 19 points after halftime.
“We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game, but I’m proud of our guys, the way they played late and really excited to see what’s coming up for us on Monday,” added Foster.
Drury closed out the regular season with an overall season mark of 10-15 and 7-10 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
Chase Robinson had 24 points for Illinois-Springfield as the Prairie Stars fell to 12-16 overall and 7-13 in GLVC action.
The Panthers return to action Monday, Feb. 28th, when they will begin play in the Great Lakes Valley Conference post-season tournament versus an opponent and at a site and time still-to-be-determined.
