SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri S&T nearly spoiled Drury's Senior Night party and almost forced the Panthers to share the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division championship, but the Panthers withstood the Miners' late comeback effort and came away with a 70-67 win at the O'Reilly Family Events Center.

The win gave the Panthers the outright division title and the top seed from the division in next week's GLVC Tournament – Drury would have been forced into a Sunday first round contest with a loss due to Truman State's win at Quincy – and ended the Miner season at 9-17 and 2-16 in the GLVC.

S&T had two shots to tie the game in the final 21 seconds of the game, but both attempts were off the mark.

The Panthers (18-8, 12-6 GLVC) jumped out to a 9-2 lead at the outset, but the Miners got right back in the contest with three-pointers from Michael Nesbitt (Evansville, Ind./LaLumiere School) and Zach Ellis (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School).  At the 7:09 mark, B.J. McLaughlin (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) drained a jumper to knot the score at 16.

Drury answered right back with an 11-1 run, getting a pair of three-pointers from Ben Fisher and one from Kameron Bundy to take its largest lead of the half at 27-17.  S&T clawed back into game and eventually took its first lead on a put-back by Tyler Anderson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit North) with 14 seconds to go in the half.

However, Mike Nwelue made two free throws just before the half ended to give Drury a 36-35 advantage at the intermission.   The one-point halftime margin marked the first time since S&T and Drury joined the GLVC that the Miners trailed by less than 10 at the break in a game played at Drury.

Bundy took over matters on the offensive end for the Panthers at the start of the second half, scoring or assisting on nine of Drury's first 12 points as it pushed its lead back to nine in the first three minutes.   After S&T cut the lead to six when Desmond Buerge (Carthage, Mo./Carthage) got the roll on a shot in the lane, Fisher hit a trey and a free throw for a four-point play that put the Panther lead back at 10 with 15:39 left.

A lay-in by Ellis cut the Panther lead to six with 9:16 to play, then with 7:22 remaining, a three-point play by Curtis Okafor (Kansas City, Mo./Bishop Miege) drew S&T to within three at 63-60 and prompted a timeout by Drury.  Following a basket by Cameron Adams that extended Drury's lead back to five, Okafor tipped in a missed trey by Danylo Zuikov (Kiev, Ukraine/LaLumiere School) to make it a three-point game again.

Okafor drew the Miners closer by sinking the first of two free throws at the 6:02 mark, then after Buerge got the offensive rebound on the missed second shot, Ellis tied the game at 65 with a pair of free throws five seconds later.

 Adams put the Panthers back in front by making one of two at the line on Drury's next trip down the floor, then after missing chances to take the lead on three straight possessions, the Miners got a fourth chance for the lead after another Panther turnover – and this time got the advantage with 2:14 left with Marcus Walden (Augusta, Ga./Academy of Richmond Co.) banked in a shot in the lane. 

Bundy hit two free throws to give Drury a 68-67 lead with 1:59 to play and made two more after an S&T turnover to make it a three-point game.  Nesbitt missed a three-pointer with just under a minute to go, but Clement Bonardo (LaFarlede, France/Costebelle) wrestled the rebound away from Fisher to give the ball back to the Miners.   However, Zuikov missed a three-pointer with the shot clock running out with 21 seconds to go and the Panthers grabbed the rebound.

Drake Patterson missed both free throws to give the Miners another chance, but Ellis missed an open three-point try from the top of the key with three seconds remaining; Drury got the rebound and Fisher missed two at the line, but the Miners, with only 1.3 seconds to work with, could only get a desperation heave that fell short at the horn.

The Miners, who shot 43.1 percent for the night, were led by Ellis with 15 points and Okafor with 14 in his final game at Missouri S&T.   Okafor also had seven boards to lead the Miners, who had a 37-34 advantage in that department.

Bundy led four Panthers in double figures with 18 points, while Nwelue finished with 13.