By: John Kean, Sports Information Director
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team hung in the contest with a red-hot Drury team in its first visit to the O'Reilly Family Events Center, but the Panthers used a big second half run to pull away for an 88-55 Great Lakes Valley Conference win on Monday night.
The Miners and Panthers were involved in a see-saw battle over the first 10 minutes of the contest. Drury held a 14-11 lead when the Miners ran off seven straight points to take a four-point lead by the 14:01 mark. S&T tied the game at 14 on a three-pointer by Tommy Pelczynski (Nashville, Ill./Nashville), then got a basket from Eli Steinbeck (Hermann, Mo./Hermann) and a dunk by Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) after a steal to take an 18-14 lead.
Drury answered with an 8-0 run to take the lead back, then took advantage of a Miner drought from the floor that lasted four and one-half minutes to take a 37-24 lead by the 3:49 mark on the clock. The Panthers would lead 43-30 at the half.
The Miners cut the lead down to eight two minutes into the second half on a lay-in by Maurice Grinter (Louisville, Ky./Fairdale), but the Panthers would outscore S&T 18-5 over the next seven-plus minutes to extend their lead to better than 20 and would lead by at least that much over the balance of the final 11 minutes.
Missouri S&T shot just 30.5 percent from the floor in the contest and was led by Pelczynski with 16 points. Grinter finished with 13 points and Foster ended up with 12.
Drury had four players in double figures, led by Alex Hall with 20 points and Dennon Mitchell with 19. Chris Parks also had 17 for the Panthers, who won for the 10th time in their last 11 games and improved to 19-6 overall and 12-5 in the GLVC. Drury also outrebounded the Miners by a 48-31 margin.
With the loss, which dropped the Miners to 7-16 overall and 3-13 in the GLVC, and Rockhurst's win over Maryville Monday, the Miners will need wins in each of their last two contests to stay in contention for a spot in the GLVC Tournament.
The Miners will wrap up their home schedule this weekend, beginning Thursday when they host Rockhurst at 7:30 p.m. at Billy Key Court. The home finale is slated for Saturday night against Missouri-St. Louis.
