ROLLA, Mo. – By putting an end to a lengthy streak Saturday, Missouri S&T put itself in a spot it has never experienced as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference – sole possession of first place in the league's West Division.
The Miners took control of matters in the final eight minutes of the first half and withstood all of Drury's rally efforts in the final 20 minutes to post a solid
74-56 win over the Panthers Saturday afternoon at Billy Key Court, ending a 21-game losing streak to the Panthers in the process and putting the Miners at 3-0 in the GLVC for the first time ever.
Prior to Saturday, S&T had not beaten Drury since the season opener of the 1996-97 campaign. S&T lost to the Panthers the following year, then dropped all 20 meetings to them since the two schools joined the GLVC together prior to the 2005-06 season.
This one was essentially the Miners' game from the start, as S&T scored seven of the first nine points of the game. Drury rallied back and took a pair of brief leads, the last at 12-11 after Jamal Cummings made one of two at the line at the 13:37 mark of the first half.
Quinn Poythress (Jackson, Mo./Notre Dame Regional) drained a three-pointer out of the corner 31 seconds later to put the Miners ahead – for good, as it turned out – although Drury stayed with the Miners and were within one after Kameron Bundy's two free throws with just under eight minutes to play in the half.
However,
Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's) and
Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions for the Miners to give S&T a seven-point lead, sparking the Miners as they outscored the Panthers 22-8 over the balance of the half.
A lay-in by
Rokas Paulauskas (Talsiai, Lithuania/Hamilton Heights Acad.) with 1:59 left gave S&T an 11-point advantage, then
B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central)'s basket right before the first half ended gave S&T a 39-24 lead at the break.
As the second half began, Bundy – the GLVC's third-ranked scorer at the start of the day -- hit a three-pointer on Drury's first possession as he scored eight of Drury's first 10 points of the half. His three-point basket at the 16:33 mark drew the Panthers to within 10, but
Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) answered with a three at the other end to extend the Miner advantage back to 13.
The 10-point margin after the Bundy three-pointer turned out to be the closest Drury would get in the second half. Every time the Panthers were able to get to where they within a possession of getting the lead under double figures, the Miners responded.
Drury was within 12 at 53-41 when
Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) powered his way to the basket for a lay-in that started a 6-0 run that all but put the game away. McLaughlin hit two free throws after Bundy was off the mark on a three, then Paulauskas rebounded an
Allen Billinger (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) miss and scored to make it an 18-point game with 8:27 remaining.
S&T shot only 36.5 percent for the game, but outrebounded the Panthers (5-3, 2-1 GLVC) by a 47-31 margin and scored 21 second chance points to just six for Drury. The Miners also had only nine turnovers in the game – half as many as the Panthers – and controlled the paint for the most part by outscoring Drury 32-22 down low.
McLaughlin led all scorers in the game with 19 points, while Buerge and Paulauskas finished with 12 apiece. Paulauskas also recorded his second double-double of the year as he pulled down 10 rebounds and also blocked a pair of shots.
Bundy led the Panthers with 15 points and Cummings had 11 and four of Drury's seven blocked shots in the contest.
The Miners, now 5-5 overall, will hold the top spot in the division by themselves for at least the next three days – Quincy can match S&T at 3-0 with a win at Truman State – and will hold no worse than a share of the division lead when they return to conference play Jan. 7 at Wisconsin-Parkside.
In the meantime, the Miners do have two non-conference games to play prior to their trip to Kenosha, starting with a Dec. 20 home game against William Woods at Billy Key Court. Game time is at 3 p.m.
