Men's Basketball 2/12/2016 8:17:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

Panthers Look To Finish Road Slate With GLVC Triumph At McKendree

Men's Basketball 2/12/2016 8:17:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

Panthers Look To Finish Road Slate With GLVC Triumph At McKendree

Saturday's GLVC matchup between the Drury Panthers and McKendree Bearcats in Lebanon, Ill., at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Drury (15-7, 10-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will visit McKendree (12-10, 5-9) in a 3 p.m. tipoff at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, 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 mckbearcats.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN).

*ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Drury will play its final regular season road game on Saturday when the Panthers visit a dangerous McKendree team on the court named after its head coach (Harry Statham), who picked up his 1,100th career coaching victory in thrilling fashion on Thursday when the Bearcats rallied from 19 points down to beat Missouri S&T 108-105 in overtime. Drury grinded out a 77-70 GLVC road win at Illinois Springfield on Thursday, with five Panthers scoring in double-figures led by the 24 points of senior guard Kameron Bundy, who moved into the school's all-time scoring Top 10 with the effort (now at 1,643 points). Jamal Cummings added a DU career-high 12 points off the bench, and Tevin Foster, Joshua Palmer and Drew Moore chipped in with 10 points each as the Panthers built a lead that reached as high as 17 points early in the second half and held off a late Prairie Stars charge. Bundy averages 19.3 points, Foster adds 14.1 points and Palmer averages 10.8 points to lead the Panthers, who get a team-leading 5.9 rebounds per game from Moore.

*SCOUTING McKENDREE: While their overall 12-10 mark might not be eye-opening, the 9-3 record for the Bearcats at the Statham Sports Center will grab Drury's attention. Their victories there include a 92-85 triumph over Wisconsin-Parkside on January 28 and Thursday's thriller, in which McKendree trailed S&T 83-64 with just over 10 minutes to play in regulation before storming back for the victory behind 30 points from freshman guard Nate Michael and 29 points from junior guard/forward David Franklin, while junior guard Michael Jackson chipped in with 24 points. It was the fourth game of 100-plus points this season for the Bearcats, who overcame 27 turnovers with .625 percent shooting (35 of 56) from the field as McKendree made Statham - now in his 42nd year on the Bearcats sidelines - the first men's or women's coach in history, at a four-year school, to reach 1,100 wins. Franklin averages 20.5 points to lead five Bearcats scoring in double-figures on a team that averages 81.7 points and allows 79.9 points per game.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads McKendree 9-4 in the all-time series, including a 79-45 win last season at The O'. The Panthers won 78-74 at McKendree two seasons ago.

*BUNDY CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With 424 points this season, Bundy now has scored 1,643 points in his Drury career, good for 10th place on the all-time DU scoring charts after the former Nixa High standout surpassed Roland Schultz (1,633.from 1967-71) with his 24-point effort Thursday at Illinois Springfield. Bundy, who is 137 points behind No. 9 Ted Young (1,780 from 1980-84) on the DU scoring list, has scored in double-figures in 21 of 22 games this season and 26 of his last 27 dating back to last year after being held to nine in DU's loss at Parkside on January 9th. Bundy has reached double-digits in 71 of his 80 games since moving into the starting lineup for the Panthers at the beginning of his sophomore season, including 34 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 259-95 mark (.733 win percentage) in his DU and collegiate coaching career. That includes a 95-24 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 finish the regular season at home against Maryville on Feb. 18 (Play 4Kay/Pink Zone), vs. UMSL on Feb. 20 (Homecoming) and vs. Missouri S&T on Feb. 25 (Senior Night).

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Players Mentioned

#3 Kameron Bundy: G; 6' 2"; Senior; Guard

#41 Drew Moore: F; 6' 7"; Sophomore; Forward

#31 Joshua Palmer: F; 6' 7"; Junior; Forward

#45 Jamal Cummings: F; 6' 7"; Junior; Forward

#10 Tevin Foster: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore; Guard

Players Mentioned

#3 Kameron Bundy
: 6' 2"; Senior; Guard
: G

#41 Drew Moore
: 6' 7"; Sophomore; Forward
: F

#31 Joshua Palmer
: 6' 7"; Junior; Forward
: F

#45 Jamal Cummings
: 6' 7"; Junior; Forward
: F

#10 Tevin Foster
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; Guard
: G