OWENSBORO, Ky. - Drury's fourth NCAA-II Tournament basketball trip under coach Steve Hesser will begin here on Saturday, when the third-seeded Panthers take on sixth-seeded Quincy in a noon (CST) tipoff from the Sportscenter.
In other first round games, No. 2 seed Bellarmine (22-8) will play No. 7 seed Central State (22-5) at 2:30, host and top seed Kentucky Wesleyan (29-4) will take on No. 8 seed Saint Joseph's (17-11) at 6 and No. 4 seed Findlay (24-6) will play No. 5 seed Grand Valley State (21-8) at 8:30. Semifinals are at 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, with Tuesday's regional title game to tip off at 7 p.m. The regional winner will advance to Springfield, Mass., for the NCAA-II Elite Eight March 24-27.
The Panthers (23-6) and Quincy's Hawks (21-8) met once during the regular season, with Drury hanging the first loss of the season on the 10th-ranked Hawks and putting an end to their school-record 16-0 start with a 79-67 win at Weiser Gym on January 21.
Drury trailed by 10 points early in that matchup, but rallied to take a 36-34 lead at the half. Quincy trailed by five (67-62) with 3:49 left before the Panthers put together an 8-0 run to break it open one final time. Junior forward Chase Elliott scored 25 points to lead five DU players in double-figures and the Panthers' bench outscored Quincy 35-9 in the contest. Drury also committed just 11 turnovers while forcing 22 miscues by the Hawks.
Quincy has been idle since a 76-60 loss to Bellarmine in the GLVC Tournament quarterfinals in Louisville, Ky., on Feb. 28. It was Bellarmine who also pinned an 85-65 loss on the Panthers last Saturday in the GLVC Tournament semifinals, as the Knights went on to beat Kentucky Wesleyan by 10 the next afternoon to claim the league title.
Billy Baptist, a 6-5 senior, averages 15.6 points to lead the Hawks, who receive 14.9 points and 8.3 rebounds from 6-8 junior Justin Brock. Baptist had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Brock added 15 points and nine rebounds in the loss to Drury during the regular season.
Freshman guard Alex Hall leads the Panthers with his 16.6 points per game, while Elliott adds 13.5 points per contest for Drury, which is making its sixth overall NCAA-II Tournament appearance.
Saturday's game can be heard live on JOCK 98.7 FM (
www.jock987.com), with Josh Thompson delivering the play-by-play.
Game Notes