Rivermen Fall to Panthers

Late Run by Drury Beats UMSL

Springfield, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team dropped a back and forth battle with Drury on Saturday, falling 69-58 to the Panthers.

Drury got off to a hot start, scoring the first nine points of the game in the opening six minutes. UMSL would make a strong comeback, using an 8-0 later in the half to take a 17-15 lead after a layup by Nathan Whittaker (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan). After four points by the Panthers put UMSL down by two, the Rivermen got five straight points from Troy Slaten (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) followed by a three pointer from Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) to take a 25-19 lead, but Drury got the final six points of the half to send the game into halftime tied at 25-25.

After the teams exchanged three pointers to start the second half, Drury scored the next five points to lead 33-28. UMSL would stay close from there and late in the second half cut the deficit to just two points at 49-47 after a bucket from Jonathan Griffin with just under ten minutes remaining. The Panthers took off from there, using an 11-2 run to take control and hold on for the 69-58 win.

UMSL was led in scoring by Jonathan Griffin with 16 points and a team high 11 rebounds as well as four assists. Derrell Minner (New Madrid, Mo./New Madrid County) added ten points in the loss.

The Rivermen fall to 13-12 on the season and 6-11 in the GLVC. UMSL will be on the road again on Tuesday when they travel to play at Missouri-Rolla at 7:30 pm.