ROLLA, Mo. – Drury men's basketball closed the regular season Saturday afternoon in Rolla with a 91-83 win over Missouri S&T behind 22 points from Luke Stubbs.
 
Missouri S&T raced out to an early 4-0 lead after two empty Drury possessions to start the game. The Panthers responded quickly with back-to-back scores from Luke Stubbs to tie the game.
 
Drury would take their first lead of the game just over three minutes into the game on a Zach Howell fastbreak layup. The Panthers would extend their advantage to as much as three points before the under-16-minute timeout, 13-10.
 
Both teams would trade scores over the next few with no team scoring in a possession and coming up with a stop on the defensive end until the 11:18 mark in the first half, when the Panthers would take a 25-20 advantage on an Isaiah Otyaluk three-pointer assisted by Keion Epps.
 
Following an Alex Benassi three, the Panthers would go on an 8-2 run to extend their lead to eight points, 33-25.
 
The Miners would cut it their deficit to three points with just shy of three minutes left in the first half, 36-33, on their own 8-3 run.
 
Drury finished the first half hot, taking their largest advantage of the game to intermission, 44-35. 14 of the 44 points for the Panthers came from Luke Stubbs, who was six-for-seven from the field in the opening half.
 
The Drury advantage continued to grow in the opening minutes of the second half. Zach Howell, Luke Stubbs, and KeShaun Thomas would go on their own 6-0 run in the first two minutes of the half to put Missouri S&T in a 15-point hole.
 
S&T slowly clawed their way back into the game, but as soon as they got within seven, the Panthers would pull back away and keep their edge at least 10 points until the 10:54 point in the half.
 
With just over ten minutes left in the game, the Miners took off on both ends of the court, scoring six straight points and stopping the Panthers five times down the court. Drury would not make another field goal until Colin Hardrick tipped in a Stubbs miss with 6:49 remaining to keep the Drury advantage at six, 66-60.
 
The Miners would keep fighting down the stretch, but the offensive presence of Colin Hardrick and Zach Howell would keep S&T at arm's length. S&T would not get within four points of the Panthers for the remainder of the game, giving the Panthers an important 91-83 win to clinch a spot in the GLVC postseason for the first time since the 2021-22 season.
 
Colin Hardrick led the Panthers in the second half with 15 of his 18 points coming in the final 20 minutes.
 
Stubbs topped his career high in the win with 22 points and two steals. Howell added 21 points in 38 minutes played.
 
Freshman KeShaun Thomas recorded his 15th game of the season with at least 15 points with the help of nine made free throws.
 
"I am super proud of how our guys competed with a great team in the league," coach Chris Foster commented postgame, "We were able to win the rebound battle and control the pace of the game."
 
The Panthers beat S&T on the glass 48 to 33 and had 15 offensive rebounds that led to 20 second chance points. Once Drury settled down, they forced 10 turnovers in the game. Hardrick came up with three steals and scored 13 points on the fast break.
 
UP NEXT
Drury faces top-seeded Rockhurst in the GLVC Tournament at Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday, March 5, with tip-off scheduled for 5:45 pm.
 
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