SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Senior Andrew Ballock nailed an off-balanced three-point bucket from 25 feet out with 29 seconds to play and provided the Drury Panthers with a late six-point margin, enough to help carry them to a 79-71 win over the Rockhurst Hawks extending their winning streak to nine and leaving them 18-10 on the year and 12-5 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
 
After going 1 for 6 from three-point range in the opening half, the Panthers went 7 of 10 from long distance in the second half to pull away from the Hawks and secure the win.
 
"You gotta step to the line and make some free throws late, and you gotta have some luck and throw one in sometimes," said Steve Hesser, Drury head coach.  "That was an end-of-the-season type of basketball game - there were a couple of teams out there that were really trying and wanting to win."
 
The Hawks were effective driving to the basket in the opening half against the Panthers and building leads of ten points twice before the Drury outscored them 13-5 in the closing minutes to trail the Hawks 36-34 at halftime.
 
"I thought they got the better of us in the first half physically and I had to call three timeouts, but I was proud of how we came out in the second half on both ends of the floor," said Hesser.
 
In addition to his key late basket, Ballock also paced the Panthers in rebounding as he matched a career-high with 12 and had a double-double on the night.
 
Drury's largest lead of the evening was nine at 68-59 before late free throw shooting and Ballock's make held off the Hawks, who saw their six-game winning streak come to an end.
 
Drury got balanced team scoring in the contest with five players reaching double figures, including 14 points each from sophomore Conley Garrison, junior Kamau Kinder, and senior Tyler Clanton.  Ballock finished with 13 while senior Kolbe Kinghorn added 10.  Curtis Lewis paced the Hawks (16-7, 10-7) with 20 points. 
 
Drury finished the evening shooting 56 percent on 24 of 43 attempts, while the Hawks finished at 51 percent with 26 makes on 51 shots. 
 
The Panthers will wrap up the 2018-19 regular season on Saturday when they host William Jewell in a scheduled 3 pm start at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.  Drury will also celebrate the 40th Anniversary of their 1979 NAIA National Championship during special ceremonies that afternoon.
 
#allweDUiswin