SPRINGFIELD, Mo.—The host Drury Panthers used a 12-0 run in the second half to wrestle away the lead from the visiting Bellarmine Knights then kept the visitors at bay with clutch free throw shooting to pull out a 66-56 upset victory today in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game at O'Reilly Center.
The No. 7/9 Knights led the game's first 24 and a half minutes, but Drury's Tevin Foster drilled a three to give the Panthers their first lead of the game at 29-28. The Knights responded to go up by four, but then hit a dry spell, going scoreless tor the next 5:17 while Drury reeled off 12 in a row to claim a 41-33 lead.
Down the stretch, the Panthers refused to let Bellarmine back in the game by burying 16 of 18 free throws in the final 2:38.
"We got beat every way you could get beat," said Bellarmine Coach
Scott Davenport. "(Drury) scored 42 points in the second half shooting 36 percent. We had more turnovers than we had assists, and we had only one player,
Jarek Coles, shoot over 50 percent for the game. But give them (Drury) all the credit. They're a slap down team, and they created turnovers and made the easy baskets."
Bellarmine's 56 points were 12 less than their previous season low of 68 in a win over Christian Brothers. The Knights came into the game as the best shooting team in the country at 53 percent, and were No. 4 in the nation from 3-point range at 42.8 percent, but tonight was a different story. Bellarmine made just 42.3 percent of its shots (22 of52) including a dismal three for 21 performance from beyond the arc for just 14.3 percent.
The Knights' shooting woes continued even when they weren't be guarded as they converted just nine of 16 free throws for a season-low 56.3 percent.
Defensively, the Knights held Drury to just 33 percent shooting. However, the Panthers drained 25 of 30 free throws and outscored the Knights 10-1 in second chance points.
Rusty Troutman was the only Knight to break into double figures, scoring 17 on six of 13 shooting.
George Suggs claimed a game-high nine rebounds and chipped in nine points.
Drury got 19 points from Kameron Bundy, but the 6-2 guard was just five of 15 from the floor. Foster and Joshua Palmer added 17 and 15 respectively for the Panthers.
The Knights fall to 18-4 on the season and slip into a tie for first in the GLVC East with a record of 11-2. Drury improves to 14-7 on the year with a 9-4 league record.
Bellarmine returns to Knights Hall for its final home stand of the season this coming week, hosting Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday evening before closing out the home season with Maryville on Saturday afternoon.
BOX SCORE (HTM)
