Jamal Cummings

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

Panthers, No. 9 Bellarmine Resume Rivalry Saturday At "Overflow The O'"

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

Panthers, No. 9 Bellarmine Resume Rivalry Saturday At "Overflow The O'"

Jamal Cummings
Saturday's matchup between Drury and No. 9 Bellarmine in the "Overflow The O'" game, at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Drury (13-7, 8-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play host to nationally ninth-ranked Bellarmine (17-3, 11-1) in a 3:15 p.m. tipoff Saturday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center (capacity 2,850).

*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 www.drurypanthers.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN). It will also be televised live by Mediacom Connections 22 (MC-22), with replays at 1 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. on Monday (beginning with the Lady Panthers-Bellarmine game).

*PROMOTIONS: It's the fifth annual "Overflow The O'" games at the O'Reilly Center, with all tickets $5 (and kids 12-and-under, like for all home regular season games, admitted for free). All fans who sign up will be eligible to win a giveaway for 2016-17 season tickets to Lady Panther and Panther games during the women's game, and an "All-Access Pass" to all DU-sponsored concerts and events for one year.

*ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Drury bounced back nicely from last Saturday's 10-point loss to Truman State at home with a convincing 75-62 win over Southern Indiana on Thursday at The O'. Senior guard Kameron Bundy made 8 of 12 shots and finished with a game-high 23 points to lead the Panthers, who got 13 points from sophomore guard Tevin Foster and 11 points and seven rebounds from sophomore forward Drew Moore. Bundy averages 19.1 points to lead the Panthers, who get 14.2 points from Foster and 10.7 points from junior forward Josh Palmer. 

*SCOUTING BELLARMINE: Coach Scott Davenport's Knights lost 85-82 at Wisconsin-Parkside on January 21st, and have won by 53, 36 and 24 points since, the latter coming in a 85-61 win at Missouri S&T on Thursday. Rusty Troutman, a 6-5 junior, has developed into one of the GLVC's top scoring threats with his 19.0 points per game (fifth in the league, right behind Bundy's 19.1 ppg). Troutman is also fourth in the league in FG percentage (.590) and second in the GLVC in 3-point FG percentage (.535), trailing only 6-10 teammate Yasin Kolo, who's made 25 of 46 (.543) from behind the arc to help Bellarmine pace the league in team 3-point FG percentage (.428). The Knights lead the GLVC in FG percentage (.530) and, defensively, FG percentage defense (.397) as well as scoring defense by a wide margin, allowing just 66.8 points per game.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads Bellarmine 10-6 in the all-time series, but the Knights took two of three last season. Bellarmine won 62-58 at The O' in the regular season, but Drury defeated the Knights 77-70 in St. Charles, Mo., for the GLVC Championship one week before the Knights got their revenge, downing the Panthers 84-60 in the opening round of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional in Louisville, Ky.

*BUNDY CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With 381 points this season, Bundy now has scored 1,600 points in his Drury career, good for 11th place on the all-time DU scoring charts. He needs 34 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 19 of 20 games this season and 24 of his last 25 dating back to last year after being held to nine at Parkside on January 9th. Bundy has reached double-digits in 69 of his 78 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 257-95 mark (.733 win percentage) in his DU and collegiate coaching career. That includes a 93-24 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 hit the GLVC road next week for games at Illinois Springfield on Thursday and McKendree on Saturday, the final away games for the Panthers during the regular season. They'll 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
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
Tevin Foster

#10 Tevin Foster

6' 0"
Sophomore
Guard
G