SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A quick offensive start to the afternoon and a strong finish behind 29 combined second-half points from Colin Hardrick and Zach Howell propelled Drury men's basketball to an 80-70 decision over Truman State for its second-straight Great Lakes Valley Conference victory Saturday afternoon at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
Drury (12-11, 7-8 GLVC) scored the game's first nine points and held the Bulldogs without a field goal for the first five-and-a-half minutes of the afternoon to build an early double-digit lead. The Panthers, who shot .577 (15-of-26) from the floor in the first half, never trailed and led by as many as 13 points in the early stages of the game.
Held to just two points in the opening half, Hardrick responded with a 17-point second stanza, while Howell scored 12 of his 18 points after intermission to help Drury extend its lead to as many as 18 points. Four Panthers scored in double figures, with Hardrick and KeShaun Thomas sharing high-scoring honors with 19 apiece.
Before Hardrick and Howell performed the heavy lifting in the second half, Thomas joined forces with Luke Stubbs to carry the Panthers to a fast start that saw the home club take a 10-point lead just four minutes and 10 seconds into the game. Stubbs knocked down a three-pointer and scored five of DU's first seven points en route to a 12-point first half, while Thomas converted a three-point play to give the Panthers a 16-3 cushion at the 14:19 mark.
Thomas would tally 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting over the first 20 minutes, while Stubbs hit on 5-of-8 field-goal attempts, including a pair of baskets in the final 29 seconds of the half to cap DU's 14-5 scoring run that handed the Panthers a 41-29 lead at the break.
Drury maintained its double-digit lead in the opening minutes of the second half, as Hardrick's three-point play with 11:21 left on the clock closed out an 8-0 spurt that handed the Panthers a 54-36 lead -- their largest of the afternoon. That sequence was part of a five-minute stretch in which Hardrick and Howell combined to score 13 straight points for the Panthers.
Truman (9-13, 6-8 GLVC) made a late run to cut the margin to single digits, as the Bulldogs outscored DU 25-14 over an 11-minute stretch to close to within 68-61 with just under three minutes to play.
But the Panthers' responded once again, as Howell completed a three-point play, and Hardrick buried a three-pointer as the shot clock wound down to extend the lead back to 13. Hardrick finished his day by going 6-for-6 at the charity stripe in the final minute to help ice the victory.
Drury finished the afternoon 26-of-54 (.481) from the field and 22-of-31 (.710) at the foul line, while posting its ninth consecutive win when outscoring the opposition in the paint (38-32).
Stubbs capped his day with 14 points and a game-high four steals, and Thomas logged seven boards, as well as his 19th double-figure scoring performance of the season on 7-of-11 shooting. Kevin Sargeant also turned in a strong afternoon in his first start as a Panther, recording seven points and sharing the team lead with seven rebounds.
Drew Kingery paced the Bulldogs with a game-high 24 points, while Jahki Parrinello added 16 for Truman.
LOOKING AHEAD
Drury will travel to Kansas City for a pair of GLVC contests next weekend, beginning with a Thursday (Feb. 12) evening game against William Jewell at 7:30 p.m.
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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