SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – After a dominant first half on both ends of the court handed Drury men's basketball a 29-point advantage, the Panthers cruised to their fourth-consecutive victory with a 90-62 win over Ozark Christian Saturday evening at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
Freshman KeShaun Thomas led Drury with a 16-point, 10-rebound performance for his first double-double as a Panther, after Colin Hardrick and Zach Howell performed the heavy lifting early in the contest by scoring 29 of DU's 52 first-half points.
With the victory -- Drury's eighth in their last 10 games dating back to last February -- the Panthers notched their first 4-0 start to a season since 2019-20.
The Panthers (4-0) turned in a dominant opening half overall, forcing 14 Ozark Christian turnovers and limiting the Ambassadors to .333 shooting. As a team, Drury connected on 45.5 percent of its field-goal tries, including seven from beyond the three-point arc in the first half. The Panthers converted those 14 OCC turnovers into a 22-3 scoring advantage in points off of turnovers, and DU out-rebounded the visitors by a commanding 32-12 margin over the game's first 20 minutes.
Drury, which forced 24 turnovers while committing just 12 on the night, led for all but 1:57 of the contest, as Hardrick and Howell helped set the tone by tallying 10 of DU's first 13 points as part of an 11-0 scoring run that handed the home club a double-digit lead.
Ozark Christian (1-5) responded with an 8-2 scoring spurt to cut what was a 10-point Drury lead to 18-14 with 12:44 left in the half.
But Drury answered with a 21-3 run of its own, heating up to knock down 8-of-17 shots over the seven-and-a-half minute stretch, led by a trio of triples by Howell. The Panthers would score seven unanswered points over the final 1:09 of the half to take a 52-23 lead into the break -- their largest of the night to that point.
The Ambassadors opened the second stanza with a 22-11 outburst to trim the margin to 18 points. Eric Dillinger accounted for nine of those OCC points en route to a team-high 14-point night.
But once more, Drury had an answer. The Panthers used Ethan Whatley's three-pointer with 12:45 left on the clock as a springboard to a 13-0 run that ultimately stretched the lead to 31 points. Aladji Gassama's conventional three-point play with 10:21 to play capped the run, over which five different Panthers scored.
The Ambassadors never threatened from that point, pulling no closer than within 24 points of the DU lead over the final 10 minutes.
Drury finished the night with a 52-35 rebounding edge, including 24 offensive boards that the Panthers converted into 24 second-chance points. DU also dominated the interior, outscoring OCC by a 50-22 margin in the paint.
Thomas, who added a pair of assists and a game-high three steals, completed his double-double on 6-of-8 shooting in just 19 minutes of playing time. Howell went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc en route to a 19-point effort, in addition to his six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Finally, Hardrick handed out four assists, grabbed five rebounds and recorded a pair of steals to go along with his 15-point performance.
Dillinger paced the Ambassadors with his 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Trey Main was the only other OCC player to finish in double figures with 10 points.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers will host the DoubleTree by Hilton Thanksgiving Classic next week, beginning with a 7:45 p.m. contest against Concordia-St. Paul Tuesday (Nov. 25) at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
For all the latest information on Drury men's basketball, visit DruryPanthers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Panthers on X and Instagram.
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