ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri-St. Louis' strong start to the second half and their perfection from the free-throw line helped them overcome Drury for a 78-73 win over the Panthers at the Mark Twain Building in St. Louis on Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Tritons improved to 6-2 and dropped the Panthers to 3-3.
 
Drury led through most of the first half and was up by seven, 26-19, with 4:39 remaining before the intermission, but UMSL closed the gap to two, 33-31 at halftime.
 
The Tritons then started the second half with a 13-4 run to claim an eight-point advantage. The Panthers fought back, though, and had the game tied at 59-59 with 6:55 remaining, but UMSL never relinquished the lead after Lawrence Brazil's three-pointer with 3:49 left. The basket ended a scoreless stretch of more than three minutes by both teams.  
 
The Tritons held off Drury from the foul-line and ended the game a perfect 23-for-23 at the stripe.
 
"We are self-inflicting our wounds," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "We had control in the first half, and we didn't close out on a couple of catch-and-shoot three-point shooters. In the second half, we struggled to run back on defense. And down the stretch, we had a turnover that led to an uncontested lay-up, and we gave up three straight offensive rebounds. That's eight points right there, and all that just puts more pressure on your offense."
 
Jason Montgomery poured in a career-high 35 points for Drury. The sophomore from St. Louis went 13 for 26 from the field, 7 for 14 from three-point range, and he had a team-high eight rebounds. Malek Davis and Riley Naeger both chipped in 11 points for the Panthers.
 
The Tritons had five players in double-figures, led by Marty Jackson's 20 points and nine rebounds. Jose Grubbs added 15 points, while Isaiah Fuller had 14.
 
Drury shot 43 percent from the going 26 for 65 while the Tritons shot 46 percent connecting on 24 of their 52 shots. The Panthers also made eight three-pointers to UMSL's seven, but Drury was 9 for 15 from the free-throw line while the Tritons made all 23 of their attempts.
 
Tuesday's game was the first of three games this week for Drury. The Panthers return home for a game Thursday against William Jewell for a 6:05 pm tipoff at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
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