SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury men's basketball will make its first tournament final appearance in five years at the 2026 Great Lakes Valley Conference Men's Basketball Championship Sunday (March 8) when they square off against No. 2 William Jewell at the Mark Twain Building in St. Louis.
Drury notched its first GLVC Tournament victory Thursday evening with its 101-92 win over top-seeded Rockhurst, then held off No. 4 Indianapolis (85-83) in Saturday's semifinal contest, thanks to Colin Hardrick's go-ahead jumper with 1.0 second left on the clock.
William Jewell secured its spot in the GLVC Championship contest with a 77-66 win over No. 6 McKendree Saturday evening, following the Cardinals' quarterfinal victory over Upper Iowa. Jewell will be making its second title game appearance in the last three seasons after claiming the GLVC crown in 2024.
For the fifth year in a row, all GLVC Championship action will be streamed live for $15 per game or $40 for the full tournament on GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, and GLVCSN OTT apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV. More broadcast details will be shared the week of the event.
All spectators attending in person will be required to pre-purchase tickets online at GLVCsports.com/tickets. No cash will be accepted on site.
Audio broadcasts for all Drury men's basketball games in 2025-26 will be streamed online through the DU All-Access button via DruryPanthers.com. Fans may access the audio streams by visiting the 2025-26 schedule page for the Panthers and selecting the "Listen" link, or via the DU All Access button located on the home page.
SERIES HISTORY
- The Panthers and Cardinals have evenly split their 82 previous meetings in the series.
- William Jewell has claimed the last five matchups in the series, including a pair of victories this season: a 73-69 win over the Panthers in Springfield on Jan. 4, as well as an 80-69 decision in Liberty on Feb. 12.
- Sunday's meeting will be the first in the GLVC Championship for the Cardinals and Panthers.
- Drury is 2-6 against Jewell under head coach Chris Foster, who has gone 11-6 overall against the Cardinals during his 12-year career.
TOURNAMENT STORYLINES
- Drury is making its 17th appearance in the GLVC Championship.
- The Panthers improved to 23-13 overall in the tourney and advanced to the championship game for the sixth time (and first since 2021) with their 85-83 victory over UIndy on Saturday.
- DU is now 6-7 in GLVC Tournament semifinal appearances and has won its last three following Saturday's victory over Indianapolis (2019 and 2021).
- The Panthers have won three GLVC Tournament titles (2008, 2013 and 2015) in their 21 seasons in the conference, logging a 3-2 mark in title games.
- Zach Howell led Drury with 25 points in each of the Panthers' first two games in the tourney, topping the 500-point mark for the season in Thursday's win over Rockhurst and surpassing 1,000 career points in Saturday's victory over UIndy.
- Drury enters Sunday's game riding a five-game win streak -- its longest in-season streak since February 2020.
- The Panthers' 101-point performance vs. Rockhurst eclipsed DU's all-time top scoring effort in GLVC Tournament play, surpassing a 99-point night vs. SBU on March 3, 2021.
- KeShaun Thomas (445 points) moved into fourth place on Drury's all-time freshman scoring list, surpassing Gail Frederick (430) in Thursday's win over Rockhurst.
- Thomas (221 rebounds) also ranks second on DU's freshman rebounding list, moving past Frederick (212) in Saturday's victory.
- Howell ran his season total to 99 three-point field goals, which leads the GLVC this season; Howell's total also ranks fourth in Drury history.
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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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