SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Panthers returned home to the O’Reilly Family Event Center Tuesday night and led wire-to-wire against the University of the Ozarks Eagles, claiming a 106-65 non-conference win and snapping a brief two-game losing skid.
Sophomore Logan Applegate hit for 18 of his game-high and season-high 27 points in the opening half of action, as the Panthers exploded for a comfortable 50-28 margin over the Arkansas visitors at halftime. Applegate was good on 7 of 10 shots from three-point range on a hot shooting night.
“It was good to see Logan make some shots because he’s trying so hard to do the right things out there,” said Drury head coach Chris Foster. ‘We want him to go out and be aggressive and he did that tonight and showed why he was the freshman-of-the-year in the league last year.”
In addition to Applegate’s scoring, the Panthers got 15 points from freshman Luke Stubbs and 10 points from freshman Juok Riak as they matched their season-best scoring mark at 106 points and improved to 6-3 on the season.
Team chemistry was on display all evening for Drury, as the Panthers finished the night with a season-best 29 assists on 41 of 69 shooting from the field, good for a 59 percent effort.
“We just continue to trust in each other and share the ball,” added Foster. “And to get that many assists you gotta knock down some shots and when we get the right shots, we’re shooting a really high percentage.”
The Panthers also controlled the boards, outrebounding the Eagles 41-29.
The Eagles, who fell to 6-4 with the loss, were led in scoring by Josh Upke, who closed with 13 points.
The Panthers return to action, Saturday, December 9th, when they host Southwest Baptist in a 3pm game at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
