SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— Drury lost another heartbreaker as they fell for the fifth time this season by one point in an 88-87 loss at Illinois Springfield on Saturday.
The Panthers owned a 52-43 lead at halftime and led by as much as 15 early in the second half, but the Prairie Stars chipped away and went ahead 85-84 with 1:49 remaining on a three-pointer by Bahari Amaya.
Drury responded with 33 seconds left as
Conley Garrison scored on a lay-up, got fouled and completed a three-point play that put the Panthers back in front 87-85.
Amaya, who came off the bench for Illinois Springfield to score a game-high 24 points, connected from long range again and his three with 10 seconds remaining gave the Prairie Stars back the lead, 88-87.
After missing a three-point attempt in the closing seconds, the Panthers had one final chance with 1.7 seconds left with an inbounds play under their basket, but Drury was prevented from getting a clean shot away before the final horn.
"I'm hurting for our guys," said Drury head coach
Steve Hesser after the game. "We didn't do some things we needed to do in the second half, but we did enough that we should have gotten a victory."
Both teams shot a high percentage as the Panthers hit 54 percent of their shots going 34 for 63 while the Prairie Stars went 33 for 52 for 64 percent. Illinois Springfield also made 16 of their 27 shots from three-point range (59 percent), while Amaya was 9 for 11 from the floor and 6 of 7 from behind the arc.
Garrison led the Panthers with 21 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
Andrew Ballock added 19 points while
Kamau Kinder and
Allen Billinger both had 14.
The loss marked the fifth time this season the Panthers have lost by a single point, and it is the seventh time this year they have lost a game by three points or less. None of Drury's nine losses have been by more than six points, and their only six-point loss was in overtime.
The Panthers go back on the road next week as they travel to number one ranked Bellarmine on Thursday for a 7 p.m. (Central) game in Louisville, Kentucky.
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