SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Panthers saw their losing streak extend to three games on Thursday night as they fell to the 23rd ranked Missouri-St. Louis Tritons 72-70 at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
UMSL's Yaakema Rose made one of four free throw attempts over the final five seconds to give the Tritons their 13th win of the season against just one loss, while the Panthers dropped to 8-4 on the year with the setback.
 
Drury had command of much of the second half, owning an eight-point lead with less than ten minutes remaining before the Tritons charged back for their first lead of the half with 2:52 to play at 69-67 and then used a steal and layup from Rose and his free throw to offset a late three-point make by the Panthers to secure the win.
 
"They executed better late, and we gave up a bad late three-pointer with a three-point lead and turned it over a lot in the last four minutes," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "We didn't get quality shots late, and they got better-looking shots than we did."
 
The teams battled back-and-forth during the first half, with eight lead changes before the Tritons took a 41-40 halftime edge. UMSL senior Jason Towery hit on five of eight three-point attempts for 15 points to pace their first-half scoring.
 
The Panthers got strong interior play early, as junior Brandon Emmert led their scoring with 14 points, while junior Obi Okafor had nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. Sophomore Asa Hutchinson had eight second-half points in the paint as well.
 
"I think we were about 14 of 19 inside, but I don't think we were able to score inside down the stretch, and that was big," added Hesser.
 
Juniors Conley Garrison and Cal Hartley each added ten points for Drury (8-4, 1-3). Rose finished with a game-high 24 points, with Towery adding 18 for the Tritons (13-1, 4-0).
 
Drury hit on 27 of 51 shots for 53 percent, while the Tritons ended the night at 48 percent on 26 of 54 from the field. UMSL edged the Panthers on the boards, grabbing 30 rebounds to 28 for Drury.
 
The Panthers are back in action on Saturday, January 11th when they entertain Lindenwood University in a 3 pm outing at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, as part of Hall of Fame Day activities on campus.
 
 
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