SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- The Drury Panthers wrapped up a busy three games in six days schedule Saturday afternoon, with an 83-76 win over McKendree at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, giving them their third victory in their last four outings.
 
Behind another stellar scoring performance from junior Malek Davis, who finished with 25 points, the Panthers were strong in both the closing moments of the first half and then in the critical closing minutes of the game as they improved to 8-12 overall and to 5-7 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
 
McKendree moved in front by six points midway through the first half, but the Panthers closed the half on a 27-9 scoring run and held a 43-31 edge over the Bearcats at intermission.
 
In the second half, Drury appeared to move ahead comfortably to a 15-point lead with just under nine minutes to play, but the Bearcats went on a 17-5 scoring run and pulled to within one point at 65-64 with a little over four minutes remaining.
 
From there, however, the Panthers regained control, outscoring McKendree 18-12, and hit on 12 of 15 free throws in the final minutes helping Drury head coach Chris Foster to his first win over the team he had previously coached prior to joining the Panther program this year.
 
"I think we did a lot of things well today," he remarked.  "We shared the ball well with 17 assists and made our free throws down the stretch and that was big.  It was a little tough for me today because my relationship with the McKendree guys goes well beyond basketball."
 
Drury had four players in double-figures. In addition to Davis' effort, senior Obi Okafor finished with a double-double, with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Myles Samuel had a career best 15 points and senior Victor Nwagbarachoa tossed in 12.
 
"In this game we faced a team that mirrored us in how we play, but I thought our guys were locked in and it was good to see continued growth," added Foster.
 
Bryson Bultman hit for 20 points to lead the way for McKendree as the Bearcats fell to 11-8 overall and to 7-8 in GLVC play.
 
The Panthers are back in action on Thursday, February 17th, when they face Lewis in a 7:30 pm game in Romeoville, Illinois.
 
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