No. 14 Panthers Fall 90-88 In Overtime To Wisconsin-Parkside
(From A Drury University Athletics Release)
Wisconsin-Parkside blew a 20-point lead in the second half, then rallied themselves at the end of regulation and overtime to defeat No. 14 Drury 90-88 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference thriller Saturday afternoon at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
The Rangers (7-3, 2-0) snapped the Panthers' 13-game home winning streak with the road victory, which looked improbable on both sides throughout the contest.
First, there was Parkside racing off to a 46-28 lead at the half on the strength of 62 percent shooting (18 of 29) from the field. That lead grew to 20 points on a layup by Andy Mazurczak with 19:33 to go at 48-28.
But the Panthers (8-3, 2-1) began to chip away thanks to full-court pressure defense that helped produce 18 turnovers after halftime. Drury got it down to 10 (48-38) on Alex Hall's 3-pointer with 16:21 to go, and had it to two (52-50) after Hall's jumper with 11:29 left.
And then here came the Rangers, holding DU scoreless the rest of regulation and finishing on a 7-0 run, capped by Nick Neari's layup with 41 seconds to go to tie it at 79. Parkside sweated out a final, potential game-winning possession by the Panthers when Brandon Lockhart's running 12-footer wouldn't fall, and neither would Josh Buie's desperation follow attempt inside at the horn.
It was back and forth in the extra period, with Drury leading 86-83 after Boga's layup with 2:50 left, but Safford bombing home a trey at 2:23 to counter and tie it at 86.
"Number one, you say congratulations to Wisconsin-Parkside," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "They played harder, they shot better, they rebounded better ... the deal is, as collective as we were on Thursday night, we had zero collectivity today.
"We had zero collectivity this morning in shootarounds, and that's exactly how we played today in the first half. I'll give our guys credit ... they did a tremendous job of leaving some effort on the floor."
Hall led five Panthers in double-figures with 23 points, though he made just 5 of 16 attempts from 3-point range and 8 of 22 shots overall. Lockhart finished with 15 points, nine assists and four steals in 41 minutes, while Boga had 13 points (on 5-of-8 shooting) off the bench. Bundy and Drake Patterson finished with 10 points each.
Saffold finished with 27 points and nine rebounds while Krutwig had 25 points for the Rangers, who shot a blistering 63 percent for the game (32 of 51) against a DU defense that was allowing opponents to shoot just 38 percent.
Drury goes out on the GLVC road for the first time this season next week, visiting No. 11 Indianapolis on Thursday and Saint Joseph's on Saturday.
Box Score
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