SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team dropped its regular season finale against Drury, 76-70 at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on Thursday evening in Springfield, Mo.

UMSL still has a chance in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Point Rating System (PRS) to qualify for the GLVC Tournament. It needs Drury to lose at Missouri S&T on Saturday, Truman State to lose at William Jewell and Indianapolis to defeat Quincy. If all three of those scenarios happen then UMSL would get the eighth seed by 0.5 points over Truman and Drury.

The first half was a see-saw affair with six ties and nine lead changes. The Tritons led by as many as five late after a layup by Demetris Phillips from Miles Boland. The Panthers (14-13, 9-10 GLVC) cut the deficit to three at the break on a layup from Luke Stubbs.

Boland and Taye Moore paced UMSL in the first 20 minutes with 13 points each. Drury's scoring was a little more balanced with six different players filling the stat sheet. Keion Epps led the Panthers with seven points off the bench.

The Tritons stretched their lead to as many as seven points at 59-52 after Phillips made 1-of-2 at the foul line with 10:53 remaining but the Panthers took control with a 22-8 run over the next nine minutes aided by six Triton turnovers.

UMSL cut the deficit to after a layup from Jake Hamilton but Zach Howell hit a three from the top of the key as the shot clock expired to give Drury its largest lead of the game at 74-67.

The Tritons cut it to four in the final minute but wouldn't get any closer as Drury hit two free throws to seal the victory.

UMSL finished the game shooting 44 percent (25-for-57) from the floor including 8-of-26 from three and shot 80 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded the Panthers 43-to-25 but Drury forced 16 turnovers which it turned into 19 points and had a 15-point advantage in points off turnovers.

Moore led all scorers with 25 points while Boland added 15 points.

Drury shot 50 percent (30-for-60) from the field, was 4-of-14 from three and shot 63 percent at the foul line. Luke Stubbs led five Panthers in double figures with 16 points.

The Tritons finish the regular season with a record of 16-13 including 10-10 in GLVC play.