Drew Moore

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

Panthers, Bulldogs To Meet Saturday In West Battle On "Fieldhouse Sports Center Youth Sports Appreciation Day" At The O'

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

Panthers, Bulldogs To Meet Saturday In West Battle On "Fieldhouse Sports Center Youth Sports Appreciation Day" At The O'

Drew Moore
Saturday's GLVC West clash of leaders Drury and Truman State, at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Drury (12-6, 7-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play host to Truman State (15-5, 7-3) in a 3:15 p.m. tipoff at the O'Reilly Family Event Center (capacity 2,850).

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The game can be heard on KBFL 1060 AM and online at www.radiospringfield.com. A free, live webcast is available at www.drurypanthers.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN).

*PROMOTIONS: It's "Fieldhouse Sports Center Youth Sports Appreciation Day." Any youngsters who wear a team jersey or t-shirt from any youth sports team or program will have their parents admitted for free as well (12-and-under are always free for regular season games at The O'). There will be a post-game, team poster autograph signing party on the Panther Deck after both the Lady Panthers (1 p.m.) and Panther games, with the first 100 kids in line for each game to receive a Fieldhouse/Drury basketball drawstring backpack. Saturday also marks the annual Congenital Heart Defect Awareness game, with proceeds of the sale of the Andy's Frozen Custard cups ($3) to benefit CHD Awareness through the American Heart Association. 

*ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Drury bounced back from a tough loss (87-84) last week by knocking off West leader Quincy 79-76 Thursday night at The O', creating a three-way tie for first with DU, QU and Truman atop the West standings, all at 7-3. Kameron Bundy led four Panthers in double-figures with 19 points, while Lucciano Gamiz added 16 points and Tevin Foster and Josh Palmer had 14 points each. Foster went 8-for-8 at the free-throw line (where Drury was 18-of-20), including four big ones in the final minute to seal the win, while Palmer added a team-high nine rebounds while posting his 10th consecutive double-figure scoring effort. Bundy averages 18.8 points, Foster adds 13.9 points and Palmer averages 11.1 points per game to lead the Panthers.

*SCOUTING TRUMAN: Coach Chris Foster's Bulldogs are making their second trip to Springfield this season after having split games as the "flip team" with the Panthers in the DU Thanksgiving Classic. While Drury went 0-2 in the event, Truman lost to Union (Tenn.) 84-53, but bounced back with a 90-85 win over Cameron a day later. The Bulldogs feature an extremely balanced attack, with five players averaging in double-figures led by the 12.0 points per game of 5-11 junior guard Kyle Kanaskie.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Truman 8-4, including an 85-81 loss to the Bulldogs at The O' last season. 

*BUNDY CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With 338 points this season, Bundy now has scored 1,557 points in his Drury career, good for 15th place on the all-time Panther scoring charts.The senior from Nixa needs three points to move past former DU great Gail Fredrick (1,559 from 1965-69) and into 14th place, 12 points to pass No. 13 Brent Stuckey (1,568 from 1971-75) and 26 points to surpass Chris Mortellaro (1,582 from 2000-04) for 12th. Bundy has scored in double-figures in 17 of 18 games this season and 22 of his last 23 dating back to last year after being held to nine at Parkside on January 9th. Bundy has reached double-digits in 67 of his 76 games since moving into the starting lineup for the Panthers at the beginning of his sophomore season, including 31 games of scoring 20 or more points. His 30-point outburst at William Jewell last Saturday was a career high, although, Bundy did score 40 points in an exhibition win over Missouri Baptist to begin this season.

*HESSER REACHES 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 in Las Vegas on December 19th, and now owns a 256-94 mark (.733 win percentage) in his DU and collegiate coaching career. That includes a 92-23 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 6-2 this season in games decided by five points or less, continuing his outstanding trend in that regard: In 12 seasons, Hesser's Panthers are 66-28 (.705 win percentage) in that scenario, including 29-9 (.775) since the start of the 2012-13 campaign.

*ON DECK FOR THE PANTHERS: Drury will continue its four-game homestand by playing host to Southern Indiana next Thursday and then entertaining nationally-ranked Bellarmine on Saturday afternoon, the latter marking the fifth annual "Overflow The O'" festivities..
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Players Mentioned

Kameron Bundy

#3 Kameron Bundy

G
6' 2"
Senior
Guard
Lucciano Gamiz

#20 Lucciano Gamiz

G
6' 3"
Senior
Tevin Foster

#10 Tevin Foster

G
6' 0"
Sophomore
Guard

Players Mentioned

Kameron Bundy

#3 Kameron Bundy

6' 2"
Senior
Guard
G
Lucciano Gamiz

#20 Lucciano Gamiz

6' 3"
Senior
G
Tevin Foster

#10 Tevin Foster

6' 0"
Sophomore
Guard
G