SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Behind big individual performances from Zach Howell and KeShaun Thomas, Drury men's basketball turned in a dominant offensive effort to edge Rockhurst 104-98 for its first Great Lakes Valley Conference victory of the season Friday evening at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
Howell went 7-of-7 from the field as part of a 22-point second-half outburst, and Thomas poured home a career-high 29 points to power Drury's third 100+ point scoring effort of the season. DU shot .508 (31-of-61) from the field and sank a season-high 33 free throws (in 40 attempts) to turn back a strong comeback bid by the Hawks (8-4, 2-2 GLVC), who shot .500 from the field and hit 23-of-29 free-throw attempts of their own.
The back-and-forth battle featured eight ties and nine lead changes, with the final coming with just over five minutes to play when Keion Epps pull-up jumper broke an 81-81 deadlock and sparked a 6-0 Panther run. Colin Hardrick added buckets on back-to-back possessions to cap the spurt, then converted 5-of-6 free-throw tries in the final minute of regulation to help seal the outcome.
Each time the Hawks challenged the Drury lead, the Panthers came up with a response. With 2:34 remaining and DU clinging to a four-point lead, Thomas corralled an offensive rebound and putback to make it a six-point margin once again. One minute later, Epps buried a critical three-pointer to double the Panther lead at 94-88 after a Rockhurst three-point play had sliced the lead to three points.
From there, Drury (6-6, 1-3 GLVC) iced the game at the line, with the Panthers combining to go 8-for-10 at the stripe over the final 59 seconds. Howell, who accounted for three of those makes, added a clutch bucket in transition with 46 seconds to go to give DU some breathing room.
Howell missed only one shot -- a free throw with 18 seconds to play -- in the second half, including a perfect 4-of-4 performance from beyond the arc.
Thomas was just as dominant, matching Howell's 9-of-11 showing from the field, while finishing a perfect 9-of-9 at the line to go along with a game-high eight boards.
Drury's big finish followed a first-half bounceback that saw the Panthers wipe out a nine-point deficit by outscoring the Hawks 42-26 over the final 15-and-a-half minutes of the period to take a 47-40 lead into the break.
Rockhurst possessed the hot shooting hand early in the contest, as the Hawks buried six of their first seven attempts from the field, while holding Drury to just 1-of-7 shooting to establish a nine-point cushion over the first five minutes of the game. Thomas powered the Drury offense with 19 first-half points, five of which came during a 9-0 run that wiped out the early Hawks advantage to give the Panthers their first lead of the contest at 20-19.
The two offenses continued to trade blows in an opening stanza that included four ties and seven lead changes. Rockhurst grabbed a 28-27 lead after Drenin Dinkins converted a drive to the basket, drew a foul and completed the three-point play with 7:28 left on the clock.
But DU responded once again, this time by scoring 13 straight points on 5-of-5 shooting over a three-minute stretch to build its biggest lead of the game. Luke Stubbs, who tallied 11 of his season-high 13 points over the first 20 minutes of the contest, knocked down a pair of threes, the last of which extended the DU lead to 40-28 with 4:16 to play.
After it's inauspicious start to the game, Drury bounced back to hit 14 of its final 24 attempts from the floor in the opening period. Thomas was nearly perfect, going 2-of-2 from beyond the arc and 5-of-5 at the foul line as part of his strong start to the contest.
Drury kept the heat on Rockhurst to start the second half, as Howell caught fire to help extend the Panther lead. After a Peyton Newbern basket pulled RU to within 10, Howell sank a trey from the right side, then negated a Jack Scott three with another long-distance connection 45 seconds later to give the Panthers a 63-50 advantage -- its largest of the night.
The Hawks rallied behind the shooting of Dinkins, who led all scorers with 32 points. Rockhurst used contributions from seven different scorers in a 20-5 spurt that erased the DU advantage and gave the visitors a 70-68 lead.
Drury answered with a 7-2 run to gain the upper hand once again, before the duo of Dinkins and Jaylen Wesley combined for five straight Rockhurst points, including the equalizing bucket by Dinkins that pulled the Hawks even at 81-81 with 5:26 to play.
In addition to the combined efforts of Howell and Thomas, Hardrick chipped in with 17 points and a game-high five assists, while Stubbs added 13 and Epps added eight points, four rebounds and four assists for Drury.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers will look to make it two conference wins in a row when they return to action Sunday for a 3 p.m., GLVC matchup against William Jewell at O'Reilly.
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