By: John Kean, Sports Information Director
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Missouri S&T men's basketball team overcame a 16-point deficit in the second half Saturday afternoon, but were done in by the one-two punch of Drury's Chris Ijames and Quinton Branch as the Panthers pulled out an 89-79 win at Weiser Gym.
Ijames scored a career-high 32 points, including a key three-pointer in the latter stages of the contest, while Mitchell finished with 24 to offset a Miner offensive effort that saw five players score in double figures.
The Panthers came out on fire Saturday, connecting on their first seven shots of the game to take an early 17-9 lead. Drury's lead would eventually grow to as much as 13 after a three-pointer by Branch at the 11:22 mark.
S&T cut the margin down to seven after a basket by Curtis Mosley (Chicago, Ill./) with 2:20 to go in the half, then the Panthers pushed the lead back to 12 before Justin Taylor (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves)'s basket at the buzzer made it 46-36 at the half.
Drury extended its lead to 16 in the early moments of the second half, before the Miners started cutting away at the deficit. S&T got the lead down to seven with 12:39 left on a basket by Mosley, then after falling back behind by 10, the Miners got a lay-in from Casey Noll (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville), two free throws from Marquis Jones (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) and a jumper by Owain Hall (Kingston, Jamica/) with 9:35 left to get within four at 64-60.
Moments later, Taylor hit a three-pointer off an inbounds pass with 6:40 to go to give the Miners their first lead of the game at 69-68. However, the Panthers scored the next six points to take a five-point lead and never trailed again.
S&T got to within one on two occasions after that, once at 76-75 on two free throws by Noll at the 3:20 mark and again at 78-77 when Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) sunk a pair at the line with 2:35 to go. But on the Panthers' next trip after the Knollmeyer free throws, Ijames nailed a three out of the corner to give Drury (13-10, 6-7 GLVC) a four-point lead and S&T couldn't get any closer.
Jones led the contingent of five Miners in double figures with 17 points, while Taylor finished with 16. S&T also got 13 points from Knollmeyer, 12 from Mosley and 10 from Owain Hall (Kingston, Jamica/) in a reserve role.
The Miners shot 48.1 percent on the afternoon, but the Panthers connected on 55.8 percent of their shots including 68 percent in the first half. S&T did outrebound the Panthers by 14 (36-22), but turned the ball over 23 times in the contest.
The Miners (8-14, 3-10 GLVC) remain on the road next week as they will face Quincy Thursday in a 7:30 p.m. at QU's Pepsi Arena.
