Grant Boswell

Men's Basketball Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

Panthers Return To Action With Saturday Matchup Vs Central Christian At The O'

Men's Basketball Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

Panthers Return To Action With Saturday Matchup Vs Central Christian At The O'

Grant Boswell
A look at Drury's Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) non-league matchup with Central Christian at The O' ...

*THE MATCHUP: Drury (6-4) will play Central Christian (9-5) in a 3 p.m. tipoff at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The games can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM, and online at www.radiospringfield.com. There will be no live web streaming of the game.

*ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Drury returns from its mandatory NCAA-II "Life In Balance" break to face Central Christian in a non-conference game before diving back into Great Lakes Valley Conference play on the road at Lewis and Wisconsin-Parkside next week. The Panthers (6-4) are coming off their most impressive win of the season - a 68-67 triumph over nationally seventh-ranked Tarleton State to conclude a two-game appearance in the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas on Dec. 18-19. Drury fell 92-80 to unbeaten No. 6 Angelo State a day earlier. It was a promising effort both days from a compromised DU squad that had only nine available players on the trip due to injuries, including only three available forward/centers. Senior preseason All-America guard Kameron Bundy leads DU with his 19.6 points per game, while sophomore guard Tevin Foster adds 14.4 points per game.

*SCOUTING CENTRAL CHRISTIAN: The Tigers from McPherson, Kan. are members of both the NAIA and NCCAA levels. CCC is off to a 9-5 start, including a 73-70 overtime loss at Oklahoma Baptist on December 14th in their most recent outing before their exhibition at Drury. Leading scorer Michael Gholston, a 6-5 junior averaging 19 points per game, missed the team's last couple of games before the break due to injury, but Alonzo Stafford, a 6-6 senior, helped pick up the slack, scoring 29 points (on 12 of 15 shooting) and grabbing 16 rebounds in the loss to Oklahoma Baptist to earn AII Conference Player of the Week honors. Central Christian head coach Tony Romero is in his seventh season at the helm of the Tigers, who rank among the national NAIA leaders in FG percentage defense at 38 percent.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Central Christian 4-0, including an 84-60 victory last season at The O'.

*BUNDY CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With 196 points this season, Bundy now has scored 1,415 points in his Drury career, good for 19th on the Panthers' all-time charts after he surpassed former DU great Jasen Fronabarger (1,411 from 1995-99) with his 24-point effort in the win over Tarleton State. He needs 34 points to surpass Marc Ridlen (1,448 from 1980-84) for 18th place on the scoring list. Bundy has scored in double-figures in all 10 games this season and 15 straight games dating back to last year. Bundy has reached double-digits in 60 of his 68 games since moving into the starting lineup for the Panthers at the beginning of his sophomore season, including 29 games of scoring 20 or more points. Interestingly, he has yet to have a 30-point game (career high of 28 points against Parkside in the GLVC tourney last season); although, Bundy did score 40 in an exhibition win over Missouri Baptist to begin this season.

*HESSER SEEKING WIN NUMBER 250: Drury head coach Steve Hesser, now in his 12th season at the helm of the Panthers and the winningest coach in the program's history, secured career collegiate coaching victory No. 250 with the Tarleton State triumph, pushing his DU mark to 250-92 (a .731 winning percentage) in his DU and collegiate coaching career. That includes an 86-21 record dating back to the start of the 2012-13 season, when the Panthers went on to finish 31-4 and claim their first NCAA-II national championship. His DU squads have also captured two of the past three GLVC Championships and made three consecutive NCAA-II tourney appearances in that stretch. Hesser's Panthers are 4-1 this season in games decided by five points or less, continuing his outstanding trend in that regard: In 12 seasons, Hesser's Panthers are 64-27 (.701 win percentage) in that scenario, including 27-8 (.774) since the start of the 2012-13 campaign.

*QUICKIES: The Panthers have been outrebounded in seven of 10 games this season, and are 3-0 in those games in which they've won the battle of the boards. ... Sophomore forward Drew Moore posted his first career double-double in the win over Tarleton State with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He's averaging 10.1 points and 6.2 rebounds over the last three games since moving back into the starting lineup. ... Drury is 4-0 this season when it shoots 46 percent or better from the field, and 2-4 when it doesn't. ... After playing double-digit minutes just twice in his first six games, freshman reserve guard Grant Boswell has averaged 14 minutes per game over his last three. ... The Panthers have failed to top 45 percent FG shooting in six of their last seven games, but also have held their opponents below that mark in six of their last seven. ... 

*ON DECK FOR THE PANTHERS: Drury will resume Great Lakes Valley Conference play next week with games at Lewis (Thursday, January 7) and Wisconsin-Parkside (Saturday, January 9), with the latter to be televised nationally on the American Sports Network (ASN) and shown locally on Fox affiliate KOZL.
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Kameron Bundy

#3 Kameron Bundy

G
6' 2"
Senior
Guard
Drew Moore

#41 Drew Moore

F
6' 7"
Sophomore
Forward
Tevin Foster

#10 Tevin Foster

G
6' 0"
Sophomore
Guard
Grant Boswell

#32 Grant Boswell

G
6' 4"
Freshman
Guard

Players Mentioned

Kameron Bundy

#3 Kameron Bundy

6' 2"
Senior
Guard
G
Drew Moore

#41 Drew Moore

6' 7"
Sophomore
Forward
F
Tevin Foster

#10 Tevin Foster

6' 0"
Sophomore
Guard
G
Grant Boswell

#32 Grant Boswell

6' 4"
Freshman
Guard
G