KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Drury sophomore guard
Malek Davis scored a career-high 30 points as the Panthers won their third straight game with an 82-64 win over Rockhurst at Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse in Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday.
Drury improved to 8-8 and dropped the Hawks to 8-9.
Davis poured in 30 points, going 11 for 16 from the field and the St. Louis native made eight three-pointers on 12 attempts. His previous high was 19 two games ago against Lindenwood, and Tuesday's game was his sixth straight contest scoring in double-figures.
Rockhurst was the stronger team out of the gate and led the Panthers 20-10 with 12:11 remaining in the first half. Drury turned the game around, however, going on a 19-4 run during the next eight minutes, and closed out the first half to take a 48-31 lead to intermission.
"I called time out with 12 minutes left, and I didn't talk –
Conley Garrison did all the talking," said Drury head coach
Steve Hesser. "He said, 'let's chill out and quit panicking,' which is what we were doing. They were really physical and forcing us to the baseline. That disrupted our movement and motion on offense. After that, we did a better job of driving and getting open with skip passes.
"Malek had his best offensive game in a Drury uniform, which was good to see, and we came out in the second half and did some good things. The negative of the evening was that we stepped out of bounds four times, and 21 turnovers will usually get you beat."
Conley Garrison added 16 points for Drury with nine rebounds and eight assists.
Jason Montgomery added 12 points and seven boards.
The Panthers shot 53 percent in the game, going 30 for 57 from the field. Drury started the game by missing six of their first seven shots. Rockhurst opened the contest hitting 8 of their first 12 attempts from the field but ended the game, shooting 41 percent going 24 for 58.
Curtis Lewis led the Hawks with 16 points.
Drury is back on the road Thursday when they travel to McKendree for a 7:30 pm in Lebanon, Illinois.
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