Panthers Cap Regular Season With 76-66 GLVC Victory At Rockhurst
KANSAS CITY - Freshman guard Alex Hall scored 24 points and Drury’s basketball Panthers closed out the regular season with a 76-66 victory over Rockhurst in a Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup at Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse Thursday night.
The Panthers (22-5 overall, 15-3 in the GLVC) are now idle until hosting a GLVC Tournament quarterfinal game at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 28, against an opponent to be determined. A win there would send Drury to the GLVC Tourney semifinals and finals March 5-6 in Springfield, Ill.
While Drury had already clinched its third GLVC West title in five seasons as a league member prior to the contest with the second-place Hawks, the game carried big NCAA-II Midwest Region implications as the Panthers – up one spot to No. 2 in this week’s region rankings – were able to close out the regular season without denting that status.
“We told the guys going in that this was our first playoff game,” Drury coach Steve Hesser said. “We’re still playing to finish the year out, but more importantly, we’re playing for regional rankings. This is a good road win for us … we had some stops late and had some good offensive possessions, then were able to step up and make our free throws and get out of here with the victory.
“I told the guys afterward that was a playoff basketball game, to enjoy it for a little while and then get back after it because the fun season is about to start.”
Most encouraging, perhaps, was the return to form of Hall, who hadn’t scored more than 13 points in a game in his last 11 contests, since a Jan. 14 win at Wisconsin-Parkside (when he had 26 points), prior to finding his range again versus Rockhurst. Hall had a career-high 36 points against the Hawks when they fell 108-81 to Drury at Weiser Gym on January 4.
Hall – shut out from the field in Monday’s 72-62 overtime win at Missouri S & T – hit 6 of 13 shots overall, 4 of 8 from 3-point range and 8 of 10 at the free-throw line to lead the Panthers.
“Number one, he did some things that we really worked on … and he finally did them,” Hesser said with a chuckle. “I’ll give his teammates credit for setting good screens for him, and give Alex credit for setting the hook better and being patient. It’s good to see him get back on track, because we need him to be the best basketball team we can be.
“We had a lot of good performances by a lot of people … it was a good team victory, and a good way to finish off the regular season. Not the season … the regular season.”
Drury held a 39-36 advantage at the half and led virtually the entire contest, by as many as nine points on several occasions, until around the six-minute mark, when Aaron Hill’s 3-pointer gave the Hawks a 59-57 advantage.
The Panthers went back on top 61-60 on Chase Elliott’s layup with 4:41 left, and after the team’s exchanged turnovers, Dennon Mitchell nailed a 3-pointer and Chris Parks scored off a fast-break for a 66-60 lead with 2:42 left. Rockhurst answered with an Aaron Morrissey 3-pointer to cut it back to three (66-63), but Parks countered with a bucket inside to push it back to five (68-63) with 2:01 to go.
Mitchell, who finished with 17 points, then came up with a huge steal and missed a layup, but freshman Brandon Lockhart cleaned it up with the putback to put the Panthers on top 70-63 with 1:27 left. A 3-pointer by Aaron Hill cut it to five (71-66) with 50 seconds remaining, but Hall hit two free throws and DU closed it out from there to earn the regular season sweep of Rockhurst (16-10, 11-6).
One big key for the Panthers – a 46-32 advantage on the boards, with freshman Cable Hogue grabbing a game-high eight rebounds and Parks, who scored 15 points, adding seven rebounds. This after getting outrebounded 45-32 at Missouri S & T on Monday and 35-25 by UMSL last Saturday at Weiser. After outrebounding 16 of their first 21 opponents, the Panthers had been beaten on the boards by four of their past five foes.
“We spent a lot of time the last couple of days in practice talking about our need to go to the boards,” Hesser said. “You have to rebound to win basketball games.”
Drury also held Rockhurst to 34 percent shooting (23 of 67) , including 10 of 34 shooting (29 percent) from 3-point range.
Hill, the GLVC’s second-leading scorer at 19.7 points per game, led Rockhurst with 18 points, but hit just 6 of 18 shots (including 4 of 14 from 3-point range). Morrissey added 14 points and Najja Nicholson had 12 points for the Hawks.
Facebook
Twitter
Leave a Comment