ELSAH, Ill. – Behind a balanced offensive attack that featured four players scoring in double figures, Drury men's basketball pulled away for a 71-59 victory over Thomas More Saturday afternoon to complete a perfect 2-0 weekend at the GLVC/G-MAC Conference Challenge at Hay Field House.
Freshman forward KeShaun Thomas led all scorers with 19 points, teaming up with the tandem of Zach Howell and Colin Hardrick to account for 50 of the Panthers' 71 points. Howell tallied all of his 17 points in the opening half, helping the Panthers (2-0) overcome a two-point deficit by scoring 11-straight Drury points at one point. The junior also racked up eight rebounds and game highs of five assists and three steals.
Hardrick chipped in with a double-double of 14 points and both a game and career-high 15 boards, while Avante Nichols rounded out the Panthers' double-digit scorers with 10 points to go along with seven rebounds and two assists.
All four DU standouts contributed to a 23-8 scoring run that covered eight minutes spanning the end of the first half and the first five minutes of the second. That Drury run followed Howell's outburst, over which he connected on a pair of three-point tries en rout to knocking down 6-of-11 first-half field goal attempts. Trailing 29-27 with just over three minutes left in the half, Hardrick buried a triple of his own, before Isaiah Otyaluk threw down a breakaway dunk to hand DU a 32-29 lead--its largest of the day to that point.
But the Panthers weren't quite ready for intermission, as Hardrick converted in the paint following a pair of Kai Simpson free throws that had brought the Saints back to within one point. Down by three with under 10 seconds remaining on the clock, TMU appeared to be playing for the final shot in the half, before Nichols came up with a steal and fed Thomas for a layup that gave the Panthers at 36-31 cushion heading into the break.
Drury maintained its momentum at the onset of the second stanza, as Hardrick pulled down an offensive board--one of four for the sophomore in the game--and converted a putback to open the scoring. Thomas scored in transition off of a Howell steal moments later to stretch the margin to nine points, then produced two more buckets in the first five minutes of the half. In all, Thomas and Hardrick would combine to score 12 of the Panthers' first 14 points after the break to push the DU advantage to 50-37.
But TMU's Colin McClure helped spark a 9-0 scoring run to help the Saints (1-1) climb back into the contest. Carson Brown's layup at the 9:46 mark capped the run and sliced the DU advantage to just four points, before Ethan Whatley delivered the first of two critical three-point daggers for the Panthers. The senior, who finished with a career-best eight points, buried his first trey from the right flank to give DU some breathing room, then repeated the feat from the opposite wing to hand the Panthers and eight-point cushion after a McClure bucket had made it a 53-48 game.
A Simpson basket momentarily made it a six-point affair once again, but Nichols sank a pair of field goals, before baskets from Thomas, Whatley and Hardrick over a 90-second stretch expanded the margin to 66-50, effectively sealing the victory for the Panthers.
Drury shot .408 (29-of-72) from the floor for the afternoon, while limiting the Saints to .381 shooting, including just 12-of-36 in the second half. The Panthers turned in a dominant effort on the blocks, outscoring the Saints 36-24 in the paint, in addition to converting their 17 offensive boards into a 14-7 advantage in second-chance points.
Daniel Allen paced TMU with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc, while Simpson added 14 points and four assists for the Saints.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers return to Springfield to open the 2025-26 home season Wednesday (Nov. 19) with a 6 p.m. non-conference matchup against Ecclesia College.
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