SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Behind the performance from Asa Hutchinson, the Drury Panthers ended a three-game losing streak on Thursday night as they defeated the Miners of Missouri S&T 81-62 at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
Hutchinson finished with a team-high 19 points to match his career scoring high in guiding the Panthers to the win. The Bentonville, Arkansas sophomore ended the evening 6 of 12 shooting from the field, 7 of 11 from the free throw line, and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds as the Panthers improved to 12-7 on the year and 5-6 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
 
"Asa's been struggling a bit because he's one of those players that over-thinks things, and he gets some clutter in his head at times," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "But he was really ready for things tonight, so hats off to him."
 
After the two teams battled back-and-forth in the opening ten minutes of the first half, the Panthers pulled away from a 20-20 tie outscoring the Miners 17-6 to claim a 37-26 halftime advantage. They opened the second half on a 17-5 run to extend their margin to 23 points and were never challenged by the Miners the remainder of the way.
 
"Runs are why coaches preach defense so much," added Hesser. "Because if you play good team defense, you can shorten those runs, and that's the difference."
 
Drury placed four players in double figures with juniors Cal Hartley tossing in 14 and Conley Garrison adding 13. Senior Lane Duncan finished with 10.
 
Mitch Fairless topped the scoring for the Miners (4-13, 2-9) with 17 points.
 
The Panthers won the battle on the boards, with 45 rebounds to 33 for S&T, and had 17 assists on 28 made shots for the night.
 
Drury remains home for a showdown with Maryville at 3 pm on Saturday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
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