MAGNOLIA, Ark.— Southern Arkansas found a way to contain Drury down the stretch and pulled away for an 87-78 win over the Panthers in Magnolia, Arkansas on Monday night.
Drury fought back from an early 11-0 hole in the game's opening moments as
Logan Applegate connected on five three-pointers and the Panthers charged ahead for a 43-39 lead at halftime.
The Muleriders, though, quickly erased the lead to start the second half and the game went back and forth until Southern Arkansas forged a 10-point lead, 79-69, with 3:33 remaining. The Panthers closed the gap to six with 2:11 left on Applegate's eighth three-pointer of the game, but the Muleriders answered with a three from Kris Wyche moments later and Southern Arkansas hit free throws down the stretch to hold on.
Applegate, a freshman from Nevada, finished with 26 points, while
Adam Moore added 18 points and eight rebounds.
"I thought we got better tonight as we were moving the ball and we got some better shots, so it was good to see us put some points on the board," said Drury head coach
Chris Foster. "But we have to value possessions more and defensive rebounds more. Those things came back to bite us."
The Panthers had 18 turnovers and, after out-rebounding the Muleriders by four in the first half, ended up on the short end of a 40-30 count on the boards. Southern Arkansas, a team that out-rebounds opponents by nearly 11 per game, had 18 rebounds on the offensive end.
Blake Rogers led the Muleriders with 27 points on 10 for 17 shooting. Wyche added 20 points for Southern Arkansas.
Drury shot 48 percent, going 28 for 59 and they made 17 of 32 three-point attempts. Southern Arkansas also shot 48 percent, making 31 of 64 tries and was 12 for 25 from behind the arc. The Muleriders were 13 of 18 from the foul line, while the Panthers made 5 of their 7 free throws.
Southern Arkansas improved to 7-3 while dropping the Panthers to 3-8.
Drury won't return to action until Dec. 31 when they host St. Mary (Kan.) at 1 pm in the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
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