Kameron Bundy and Tevin Foster combined for 50 points – including 40 points after halftime – as Drury held off a late McKendree charge to beat the Bearcats 87-76 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action Saturday afternoon at the Harry Statham Sports Center.
With its fourth straight victory, coach Steve Hesser's Panthers improved to 16-7 overall and regained sole possession of the GLVC West lead at 11-4 when Quincy (10-5) lost 108-107 in overtime at home to Parkside Saturday.
Drury will finish out its league slate all at The O', starting next week with visits from Maryville (Thursday) and UMSL (Saturday) before Missouri S&T closes out the regular season slate on Feb. 25.
Bundy scored 28 points – 22 in the second half – and Foster had 20 points, getting 16 of his total after the the break, as the Panthers built a lead and turned back every McKendree attempted charge with more offense.
"Tevin had five assists and zero turnovers, and that's outstanding," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "In the second half, both teams struggled to stop the other team, but we made enough buckets and got some very nice offensive possessions, made some nice passes out to hit the 3-pointers that allowed us to stretch the lead."
After making just 1 of 9 long-range tries in the first, Drury made 9 of 13 shots from 3-point range in the second half to spark the Panthers' surge. The Panthers shot 58 percent from the field for the game (34 of 59) while limiting McKendree to 42 percent (25 of 59). The Bearcats made just 2 of their final 19 shots to close out the second half, helping DU claim a 32-25 advantage at the break.
The Bearcats (12-11, 5-10) got a game-high 31 points to go with 13 rebounds from David Franklin and 26 points from Nate Michael.
A pair of freshmen played big roles off the bench. Douglas Moore scored nine of his career-high 11 points in the second half, and Grant Boswell made three 3-pointers (in four tries) and finished with nine points as the Panthers completed their final GLVC regular season road trip with a 2-0 swing through Illinois.
"Jamal Cummings gave us some good minutes off the bench, too," Hesser said. "Boswell saved us today because (Lucciano Gamiz) picked up a foul to end the first half and get his third, and Boz came in and was very, very solid … he moved the ball and got in position to shoot, and made three big ones when we needed them."
Drury, which led by as many as 15 points, was outrebounded 34-30. Cummings had six boards to lead the Panthers, who outscored McKendree 55-50 in the second half.
"We went through the East side of our schedule 7-1," Hesser noted. "Now we need to come home and prepare, make each day important, and finish out with three at the O'Reilly Center."
