SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Despite shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor, Missouri S&ST's men's basketball team wasn't quite able to keep pace with Drury and dropped a 90-81 decision in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams.

The Miners (2-5, 0-1 GLVC) shot 49.1 percent from the field, but the host Panthers (5-4, 1-0 GLVC) connected on 56.7 percent of their shots and made 11-of-22 from three-point range as they were able to pull away from S&T midway through the second half.

Drury led for the bulk of the first half and used a 16-5 spurt to take an 11-point lead after CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) completed a three-point play to tie the game at 17 nine minutes into the contest.  The Panthers would eventually push their lead out to 17 in the opening half before S&T closed the gap to 11 by halftime.

Early in the second half, the Miners scored six of the first eight points and trimmed the Panther lead to five following a jumper by Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) at the 16:35 mark.  However, Drury answered with a 9-0 run to get the lead back into double figures and after S&T got back to within nine midway through the half on a Romain Louiserre (La Ferte Alais, France/Fredrick Fays) three-point play, it outscored the Miners 14-3 over the next 2:34 to extend the out to 20.

All five Miner starters in the game scored in double figures, led by Hedgepeth with 21 points and Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) with 17.  Ervin Sarajlic (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) finished the afternoon with 14 points, while Louiserre and Miller had 10 apiece.

Conley Garrison had 22 points to pace the Panthers, who hit eight of their 11 three-pointers in the first half of play.

The Miners return to action Tuesday when they host Lincoln College in a 7 p.m. game at Gibson Arena.