KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Despite rallying to wipe out a 15-point second-half deficit, Drury men's basketball came up on the short end of an 86-79 Great Lakes Valley Conference contest against Truman State Thursday evening at Pershing Arena.
After the Panthers outscored the Bulldogs 32-17 over an eight-minute period to pull even at 71-71 with just under five minutes left in regulation, the Bulldog defense would step up to hold the Panthers scoreless for a span of 1:43 to turn the momentum for good. Truman also converted 11-straight free-throw attempts over the final 3:01 of regulation to ice its first conference victory of the season.
KeShaun Thomas scored 18 second-half points and went a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line to finish with game highs of 24 points, eight rebounds and four steals to lead the comeback effort for Drury (4-4, 0-2 GLVC), which trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half. Zach Howell contributed 19 points, and Colin Hardrick totaled 18 for the Panthers.
The Bulldogs rode 20+ point performances from Julian Brown (21 points) and Drew Kingery (20 points) and shot 51.8 percent from the floor and went 22-of-27 (.815) from the foul line for the contest. Brown went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, while Kingery converted 8-of-10 attempts overall from the floor to pace the Truman attack.
Truman State (3-3, 1-1 GLVC) used an 11-0 scoring spurt as part of an 18-5 first-half run to seize control of the contest, as the Bulldogs shot .516 (16-of-31) from the floor in the opening half to build a double-digit lead.
Drury enjoyed a strong start to the night, as Hardrick and Thomas combined to knock down 4-of-5 shots over the first five minutes to account for the Panthers' first nine points of the contest. Thomas's drive to the basket at the 15:21 mark evened the score at 9-9, but Kingery answered for the Bulldogs with a layup that put the home club on top.
Truman would score seven-straight points before the Panthers came back with a 5-0 spurt that was capped by Howell's three-pointer with 11:47 to play in the half.
That's went the Bulldogs made their key move, however. Justin Duff scored five of Truman's first eight points of the 11-0 run, and Ja'Vion Byers drilled a trey with 9:35 left on the clock to punctuate the run and extend the margin to 27-14.
Truman would extend its advantage to 39-22 with just over two minutes left to play in the half, but a trio of free throws, a basket from Howell and a Luke Stubbs' three-pointer combined to trim the Bulldogs' lead to eight points heading into the break.
Drury maintained its momentum at the onset of the second half, scoring the first four points of the half for a 12-0 run that pulled the Panthers to within five points.
But Truman rode another big run to help distance themselves from DU once again, going 5-of-6 from the floor while holding the Panthers to a single field goal over a four-minute stretch to stretch the lead to 54-39.
The Panthers made their move over the ensuing eight minutes, as Howell and Thomas scored 10 points apiece to power the late Drury comeback. DU, which went a combined 10-of-12 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line over the critical run, pulled to within one point on a Hardrick layup at the 4:59 mark, then tied it up on Thomas's three-point play 22 seconds later.
Jahki Parrinello's drive to the hoop untied the game, and 1-of-2 free throws by Kingery made it a 74-71 game. Next, Byers and Thomas exchanged a pair of free throws before another Kingery layup made it a three-point Truman advantage. From there, Truman sank all eight of its tries from the foul line down the stretch to seal the outcome.
Drury converted 12 offensive boards into a 16-5 scoring advantage in second-chance points, but the Bulldogs finished with a 23-4 advantage in bench scoring.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers conclude their road trip Saturday (Dec. 6) with a 3 p.m. GLVC contest at Quincy.
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