Josh Palmer

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

Basketball Panthers To Visit UIS For Thursday GLVC Matchup

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

Basketball Panthers To Visit UIS For Thursday GLVC Matchup

Thursday's Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup between the Panthers and the Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars, at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Drury (14-7, 9-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will visit Illinois Springfield (9-14, 3-10) in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at the TRAC in Springfield, Ill.

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM and online at www.radiospringfield.com. A free, live webcast is available at uisprairiestars.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN).

*ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Drury will look to build off its most impressive win of the season, a 66-56 triumph over a tall and talented No. 9 Bellarmine team last Saturday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, a game in which the Panthers not only somehow outrebounded the Knights (37-35), but won despite shooting 33 percent from the field (17 of 51). DU, which moved back into a first-place tie with Quincy and Truman State atop the GLVC West standings with the victory, outscored Bellarmine 25-9 at the line and hit its free throws when they counted most, down the stretch, to hold off any BU charge. Kameron Bundy had 19 points, Tevin Foster added 17 points and Joshua Palmer scored 15 to lead a balanced DU attack, with Palmer snagging a team-high eight boards for a Panthers team that's won nine of its last 12 games. Bundy averages 19.0 points, Foster adds 14.3 points and Palmer averages 10.9 points to lead Drury, which gets a team-leading 6.0 rebounds per game from Drew Moore.

*SCOUTING ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD: Second-year coach Bill Walker's Prairie Stars have lost five of their last seven, including a 72-71 setback at UMSL on Saturday that nearly became a St. Louis sweep for UIS, which won 68-59 at Maryville last Thursday. The Prairie Stars are 5-5 at home this season, which includes a 79-63 victory over the same William Jewell squad that defeated DU three weeks ago in Liberty (87-84). Jamall Millison, a 6-2 senior, averages 14.5 points and Davi Austin, a 6-1 senior, adds 11.7 points to lead UIS. 

*THE SERIES: Drury leads Illinois Springfield 9-1 in the all-time series with five consecutive victories. The Panthers' lone loss in the series was a 75-70 setback at UIS on January 21, 2012.

*BUNDY CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With 400 points this season, Bundy now has scored 1,619 points in his Drury career, good for 11th place on the all-time DU scoring charts. He needs 15 points to surpass Roland Schultz (1,633.from 1967-71) and move into the Top 10 all-time. Bundy has scored in double-figures in 20 of 21 games this season and 25 of his last 26 dating back to last year after being held to nine at Parkside on January 9th. Bundy has reached double-digits in 70 of his 79 games since moving into the starting lineup for the Panthers at the beginning of his sophomore season, including 33 games of scoring 20 or more points. His 30-point outburst at William Jewell on Jan. 23 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 258-95 mark (.733 win percentage) in his DU and collegiate coaching career. That includes a 94-24 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 visit McKendree in Lebanon, Ill., on Saturday for a 3:15 p.m. tipoff. The Panthers finish up at home against Maryville on Feb. 18, vs. UMSL on Feb. 20 (Homecoming) and vs. Missouri S&T on Feb. 25 (Senior Night).
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Players Mentioned

Kameron Bundy

#3 Kameron Bundy

G
6' 2"
Senior
Guard
Drew Moore

#41 Drew Moore

F
6' 7"
Sophomore
Forward
Joshua Palmer

#31 Joshua Palmer

F
6' 7"
Junior
Forward
Tevin Foster

#10 Tevin Foster

G
6' 0"
Sophomore
Guard

Players Mentioned

Kameron Bundy

#3 Kameron Bundy

6' 2"
Senior
Guard
G
Drew Moore

#41 Drew Moore

6' 7"
Sophomore
Forward
F
Joshua Palmer

#31 Joshua Palmer

6' 7"
Junior
Forward
F
Tevin Foster

#10 Tevin Foster

6' 0"
Sophomore
Guard
G