ST. LOUIS – The No. 18 University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team defeated Drury 86-63 and extended its season opening winning streak to seven on Thursday evening at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons are 7-0, 2-0 GLVC while the Panthers fall to 2-5, 0-2 GLVC.
Bowen Sandquist set the tone early hitting back-to-back threes to give UMSL an 8-4 lead 3:14 into the contest. Drury cut the lead to 8-6 after a basket from Adam Moore but wouldn't get any closer as the Tritons went on an 11-2 run over the next seven minutes to build an 11-point lead
Isaiah Fuller had five points in that run while
Dylan West added four and
Janeir Harris chipped in with two.
The Panthers got back within eight at 19-11 after a three-pointer from Quenton Shelton but UMSL countered scoring 16 of the next 21 points to build its largest lead of the half at 35-19 on a layup from Fuller. The Tritons took a 39-23 lead into the locker room at the half.
Drury made a run in the first 10 minutes of the second half to trim the lead to 56-43 with 11:41 remaining after another three from Moore. UMSL put the game away with an 18-2 run over the next seven minutes to build its largest lead of the night at 74-45 after a layup from Fuller on the break with less than five minutes to go.
The Panthers outscored the Tritons 18-12 over the final five minutes for the final margin.
UMSL shot a season-high 59 percent (34-for-58) from the floor in the contest including 9-of-22 from three and shot 82 percent at the charity stripe. It outscored Drury 23-10 in points off turnovers and 50-32 in points in the paint. Fuller scored a career-high 31 points in the contest while Sandquist added nine and
Donovan Vickers finished with eight. Vickers and
Mayson Quartlebaum had six assists each and Fuller added five steals.
The Panthers shot 44 percent (22-for-50) from the field in the contest but were 6-of-19 from three and shot 72 percent at the foul line. Shelton and Moore led Drury with 14 points apiece while Logan Applegate added 10 points of the bench.
UMSL continues its three-game homestand on Saturday hosting Missouri S&T at 3 p.m.
