SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Panthers missed a shot to win in the final three seconds on Saturday and fell to the Blackburn Beavers 78-76 in an exhibition game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center. The Beavers, led by a spectacular second-half shooting display by senior Karson Hayes, overcame a 25 point deficit to hand the Panthers the setback.
 
Trailing 77-76, junior Conley Garrison's long-range attempt was off the mark for the Panthers, and a late free throw provided the final score and sent the visitors away with the win. Hayes scored a game-high 33 points, all in the second half, including seven three-pointers and a perfect 8 of 8 from the free throw line
 
Unlike the only previous meeting between the two teams when Drury was a lopsided winner by a margin of 72 points two seasons ago, the Beavers provided the Panthers a much stronger test, showing determination down the stretch and battling back to take the lead at 70-69 after trailing by 25 points at the midpoint of the second half.
 
The Panthers took the lead at 71-70 with 2:10 remaining, but behind the shooting of Hayes, Blackburn was able to retake the lead and claim the win.
 
After a slow start to open the game, the Panthers went on a 12-0 run against the Beavers midway through the first half to gain control to lead by a dozen points at 22-10 and pushed that to a 40-24 halftime advantage, as they forced the visitors into 14 turnovers in the first twenty minutes of action.
 
Junior Obi Okafor with 16 points paced Drury's scoring and was one of five players in double-figures. Juniors Cal Hartley, Brandon Emmert, and Conley Garrison finished with thirteen, twelve, and eleven points respectively, and freshman Malek Davis had ten.
 
Drury outrebounded the Beavers 43-31, and the teams each turned the ball over 18 times for the game.
 
The Panthers return to action on November 29th when they face Southern Arkansas at 3:15 pm in the DoubleTree Center Thanksgiving Classic at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
 
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