SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury men's basketball led for nearly 28 minutes of its Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup with No. 16 Missouri S&T, but the Miners outscored the Panthers 9-2 over the final three minutes to pull out an 81-79 victory Thursday evening at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
After a pair of Isaiah Otyaluk free throws gave Drury a 76-73 lead, Blaise Beauchamp tallied the final three of his game-high 25 points with a trey from the left corner to pull the Miners even and initiate the critical final scoring run.
Following a Drury turnover, Zac Brown put Missouri S&T on top with the first of two Miner putbacks in the final 2:09 of regulation. Otyaluk drilled a three-pointer of his own to put Drury back in front, but Andrew Young corralled a rare Beauchamp miss and converted another second-chance bucket that gave the Miners an 80-79 lead with 41 seconds to play for the 12th and final lead change of the contest.
KeShaun Thomas came up with a loose ball off of a DU miss on the ensuing possession, but Colin Hardrick's pull-up jumper with nine seconds on the clock was off the mark, and Olivar Kokal knocked down 1-of-2 free-throw attempts to make it a two-point game.
Drury had one final shot in the closing seconds, but Thomas's three-pointer from the left wing came up short.
Beauchamp, who took just seven field-goal attempts on the night, connected on all four of his second-half three-point tries to score 17 points after the break, as the Miners shot .536 overall from the field in the second stanza, including 5-of-7 (.714) from beyond the arc. Missouri S&T also connected on 14-of-21 tries from the charity stripe after intermission to help negate what was once a 10-point Drury lead.
Otyaluk led the Panthers with 20 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range, including 16 second-half points to help fuel the DU offense.
Missouri S&T (11-2, 5-1 GLVC) overcame an early 8-4 Drury advantage with a 13-0 scoring run that handed the Miners a 17-8 cushion just over six minutes into the contest. But the Panthers responded, scoring 12 of the next 14 points to flip the scoreboard for a 20-19 lead on a Luke Stubbs floater in the lane with 9:43 to play in the half.
Drury (6-8, 1-5 GLVC) wasn't finished, as Keion Epps buried a triple and fellow freshman Thomas converted a three-point play to extend the Panther lead ot 29-25. Zach Howell knocked down his first three of the night with 1:22 left on the clock, before Thomas scored in the paint once more to stretch the DU margin to 10 points. In all, the Panthers out-scored the Miners 31-15 over the final 12:50 and forced 12 Missouri S&T turnovers in the half.
The Panthers maintained the lead throughout the second half, thanks in large part to Otyaluk. The redshirt freshman scored eight straight points to extend the margin to nine points at the 12:50 mark. After the Miners pulled to within 48-45 on a pair of Young free throws, Otyaluk connected on back-to-back three-point attempts, then threw down an emphatic dunk to give DU a 56-47 lead.
Missouri S&T would not get closer than five points of the Panther lead until a Brown jumper in the paint, followed by a Beauchamp three cut the deficit to 65-63 with just over seven minutes to play. Next, Brown converted two free throws to pull the Miners even for the first time since the six-minute mark of the first half.
Drury bounced back, however, as Hardrick and Howell combined to sink four free throws, and Otyaluk canned another three to double the DU lead to 72-66. Hardrick added a jumper in the lane with 4:36 to play, giving the Panthers a seven-point cushion once again.
The Miner defense clamped down on the Panthers from that point, holding Drury to 1-of-4 shooting down the stretch, while outscoring DU by a 14-5 margin.
In addition to Otyaluk's big night, Stubbs matched his career scoring high with 15 points, while Howell and Hardrick each finished with 13 points.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers conclude their six-game home stand Saturday (Jan. 10), when they host Lincoln for a 3 p.m., GLVC contest as part of Hall of Fame Day 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.
#OneDrury
