Coming off one of their biggest home wins in the Steve Hesser Era, the Drury basketball Panthers will be seeking to avoid a letdown when they entertain Central Christian College in a 7 p.m. tipoff Thursday night at Weiser Gym.
Drury got off to a tremendous start to the season with Monday night's 99-86 victory over nationally third-rnaked Southwest Baptist at Weiser Gym, getting 33 points from freshman guard Alex Hall and 23 junior forward Chris Parks to lead the way in the upset of the Bearcats.
Next comes Central Christian, an NAIA school from McPherson, Kan., which was off to a 4-0 start before falling to in-town rival McPherson College by an 80-77 score on Tuesday night. The Tigers had scored 89, 93, 87 and 109 points in their first four outings.
The Tigers will play an exhibition game at NCAA-II Fort Hays State on Wednesday night before making the trek to Springfield play the Panthers on Thursday, in what will also be considered an exhibition game for Central Christian but a countable game by Drury.
Central Christian features a roster with just one senior and one player standing above 6-foot-5 (6-6 sophomore center Nathan Reed) for first-year coach Tony Romero, a former CCC standout who had been an assistant coach for the Tigers the past five seasons.
Sean High, a 5-10 senior guard, is averaging 23 points per game and Don Gavin, a 6-5 junior forward and transfer from Lincoln (Ill.) College, is adding 20 points per game for the Tigers. High led NAIA-II in scoring last season at 24.9 points per game.
The Panthers, in their sixth season under Hesser, put up 28 assists to just 11 turnovers in their victory over Southwest Baptist. Junior guard Chase Elliott and sophomore guard Dennon Mitchell added 15 points and 10 points, respectively, for the Panthers in the game played in front of 2,009 fans at Weiser.
Thursday's game will be carried live by JOCK 98.7 FM with Mike Edwards calling the action. It is also available through a live video webcast at
www.B2tv.com on a pay-per-view basis.
Game Notes
Live Stats