Kameron Bundy and Tevin Foster scored 22 points each as Drury opened its season with an 83-79 victory over Southwestern College on Friday night at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.

Lucciano Gamiz added 10 points for the Panthers, who led 33-27 at the half, but had to fight off the NAIA Mound Builders down the stretch to snag the victory.

Drury made 28 of 51 shots (55 percent) for the game, and claimed a 40-35 rebounding advantage, led by nine boards from freshman Douglas Moore and seven from junior Nadir Alston, both off the bench.

Southwestern countered with 26 points and nine rebounds from Cameron Clark and 24 points - including a 13-for-13 effort at the free-throw line - from Chris Waller on a night when the Mound Builders shot 30 3-pointers (making nine). Clark was 5-for-18 from behind the 3-point stripe.

"Number one, give Southwestern some credit ... they came in here and they played til the final buzzer, and they had a couple of gentlemen that were hard to guard who stepped up and made shots," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "We're definitely a work in progress."

Bundy's 22 points came on 7-for-13 shooting from the field and a 7-for-11 effort at the line. He moved into 24th place on the all-time DU scoring charts with 1,241 points, passing Jerry Murphy (1,225 from 1971-75).

The Panthers (1-0) will visit Southwest Baptist on Tuesday in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff that continues the Bank of Bolivar "Highway 13 Cat Fight."

"It's called a Cat Fight for a reason," Hesser said. "We just hope we don't go up there and get scratched."