ST. LOUIS - In one of the most incredible comebacks in the Drury basketball program's long and illustrious history, the Panthers rallied from 22 points down in the final 16 minutes to force overtime, then pulled out an 80-76 victory at Missouri-St. Louis for sole possession of the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division lead Saturday afternoon at Chuck Smith Court.

Coach Steve Hesser's Panthers were down 44-22 with 16 minutes to play after a miserable half that saw them trail by 16 (38-22) at the break. Drury's top two players, senior Cameron Adams and junior Kameron Bundy, combined to miss their first 16 shots in the contest, including an 0-for-13 start from the field for Bundy.

But the Panthers roared back to take the lead within the next 10 minutes, let a five-point lead late in regulation (66-61, 48 seconds left) slip away and then went to overtime (tied at 68) and took care of business, thanks to some big buckets from Bundy, who hit 9 of last 13 shots and finished with a game-high 28 points (all after halftime).

Drury was down four (72-68) early in the OT before Bundy hit a 3-pointer to pull the Panthers back within (72-71), then Drew Moore's bucket put DU up for good as part of an 8-0 Drury run.

Bundy, for good measure, added another trey to make it 76-72 and then made two free throws later to help ice one of the great rallies by a Panther squad.

"I'm worn out," Drury coach Steve Hesser said afterward. "We're lucky to get out of here with a win, but we'll take it."

The Panthers improved to 13-4 overall and 7-2 in the conference - and alone atop the West standings - with their fourth straight win, all on the road. They'll finish the regular season by playing seven of their last nine at the friendly confines of the O'Reilly Family Event Center, where they've won 46 of their last 48 games.

UMSL fell to 14-5 and 6-3 in losing at home for the first time in nine games this season.

"I was extremely disappointed with our competitiveness in the first half," Hesser said. "We just had no energy. And before we started the second half, we said we're were going to make it into 'rat ball' ... we've got to drive it and get to the free-throw line early in the second half, and we did.

"We kept emphasizing that sometimes you've just got to reach into your chest and pull our heart out, throw it on the floor and play your fanny off. From the 15-minute mark on, we fought our fannies off, got collective and got more energy."

Hesser was quick to praise the collection of DU fans who made the trip to St. Louis, and especially the DU Lady Panthers, who stuck around after their victory to serve as the Fanthers road crew and help the Panthers pull out a pivotal win against an UMSL team that, like Drury, will be fighting for an NCAA tourney bid later this season.

"What a loyal group of people ... Coach Miller's girls stayed and were very vocal, and we really appreciate the way they and our fans who made the trip up gave us lots of energy," Hesser said. "I'm just really happy for our guys."

He no doubt was happy for Bundy, who started the game with his most miserable performance in three seasons as a Panther - drawing mid-game taunts from the UMSL students behind the Drury goal - and finished it as one of several guys who put the team on his back and carried it to a late victory.

"I think he was about ready to crater on us ... he wanted out of the game, and I wouldn't let him," Hesser said. "I told him that this could be a defining moment for him. He got one shot down and he got his mojo back. He made a couple of huge threes that allowed us to come away with the victory."

Adams finished with 12 points and DaShaun Stark had 10 points for the Panthers, who were kept afloat by first-half efforts from freshmen Drew Moore (who finished with nine points) and Trevor Clay (six points).

Drake Patterson had eight points, a team-high eight rebounds, five steals (a career-high) and three assists for the Panthers, who shot just 8-for-27 in the first half, but made 18 of 34 attempts after halftime to finish at 43 percent (26 of 61). 

UMSL, which got 18 points and 12 rebounds from Tylor Wimbish, made just 8 of 29 shots after halftime after canning 14 of 26 in building its big halftime lead.

The Tritons turned it over 21 times to only 11 by the Panthers.

Drury returns home next week to face Truman State on Thursday in the American Cancer Society's "Blackout Night" (all fans of both teams encouraged to wear black), before hosting Quincy on Saturday afternoon for the annual "Great Southern Bank Throwback Day." As part of the latter, Drury is throwing a Fan Appreciation Concert featuring Boogie Wonderland out of Kansas City playing 70s and 80s disco hits on Friday night (8 p.m.) at The O' ... admission is free for DU season ticket-holders, faculty/staff and students and just $5 for the general public, which includes a ticket to the Quincy games the next day for free.

For more information, call The O' box office at (417) 873-6389 or visit drurytickets.com.