ORANGE, Calif.— Drury rallied from 10 points down in the second half to lead Azusa Pacific late in the game but fell short to the Cougars in a 65-64 loss at the D-2 CCA Tipoff Classic in Orange, California.
 
Drury, playing their third game in three days, fell to 0-3. The Panthers lost in overtime to fourth-ranked West Texas A&M on Friday, 68-62, and dropped Saturday's game to Concordia (Calif.), 65-62.
 
Azusa Pacific, a team that won 21 games and advanced to the NCAA-II tournament last year, improved to 1-2.
 
The Panthers trailed by ten just after halftime but charged back with a 9-0 run midway through the second half and took their first lead since the game's opening moments on an Allen Billinger three-pointer with 6:43 left that gave Drury a 54-52 lead.
 
The contest went back-and-forth from there, and Isaac Johnson hit a three with 1:25 to go that put Drury up 64-62,  but Azusa Pacific countered on the next possession with a three-pointer from Will Ferris that put the Cougars back in front by one with 57 seconds left.
 
Drury committed a turnover with 39 seconds remaining but still had one more chance to win after Azusa Pacific missed a free throw with four seconds left, but the Panthers could not get a shot away before the buzzer.
 
Sam Marshall sparked Drury's rally and ended the game with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Both totals were career highs for the junior from Rolla who posted the first double-double of his career. Marshall went 4 for 4 from the field with each of his attempts from three-point range, and four of his 11 boards were offensive rebounds.
 
"We played three close games out here and are coming back with a lot of feedback and information on some of the things we need to do," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "We struggled to do the right things in terms of finishing a game, and when you play three good teams, they are going to expose some things. I put Sam Marshall in today, and he ignited us with his passion and contribution. We need some more guys to play with the same passion that Sam brought us today."  
 
Julius Walker also had 14 points coming off of Drury's bench on Sunday.
 
The Panthers shot 45 percent from the floor while Azusa Pacific connected on just 36 percent from field and Drury went 10 for 19 from three-point range in the contest. The difference came from the free throw line where the Cougars hit 16 of 19 tries while the Panthers only went 4 for 7.
 
Mandrell Worthy led Azusa Pacific with 13 points.
 
Drury opens their home schedule on Friday when they host St. Mary (Kan.) for a 6:30 p.m. game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
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