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SPRINGFIELD — The Bearcats had an impressive comeback on the no. 22 ranked Drury Panthers on Tuesday in Springfield, but came up just short in a 71-63 loss. With the loss SBU drops to 1-2 on the season.
Drury then extended their lead to double-digits at 23-8 with 9:09 left in the first half but the Bearcats continued to fight. Baltazar connected on a layup followed by a three from Hovey which brought SBU back with ten at 23-13.
Teams exchanged buckets and small runs for the remainder of the half before the Bearcats went into the break trailing 32-20.In the second half the Bearcats hung with the Panthers. With SBU trailing 56-46 with 7:59 remaining in the game, the Bearcats started to chip away at the lead.
The Bearcats were aggressive taking the ball to the basket with Kai Woodfall, Baltazar, and Cartree Pettis all connecting on free throws to cut the DU lead to 56-51. Drury responded with a three, but a layup from Cartier Dean and a pair of free throws from Kalehl Brown kept SBU close at 61-55 with 4:10 remaining. Once again the Panthers responded with a three but free throws from Hovey and Brown continued to chip away at the lead as SBU trailed 64-59 with 2:28 to go.
Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard over the next minute and a half, forcing SBU to foul. After DU hit a pair of free throws, Hovey was able to respond with a layup to bring the game back to five at 66-61 with 45 seconds remaining. However, shots came up short in the final seconds of the game as the Bearcats would eventually fall 71-63.
Kickapoo High School graduate Isaac Johnson led Drury with 16 points.
Cartier Dean and Louis Baltazar had a team-high 14 points a piece, while Logan Hovey had 13 points a team high 7 rebounds in the loss. As a team SBU shot 40.0% from the field, 25.0% from beyond the arc, and 72.4% from the free throw line.
The Bearcats will return to action on Friday, November 18 when they travel to Maryville. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. from St. Louis, Missouri.
