Drury basketball teams at home Thursday vs. Maryville
The Drury men's and women's basketball teams play at home Thursday, facing Maryville at the O’Reilly Family Event Center. The men’s team has the floor first for a 5:45 p.m. tipoff; then the Lady Panthers take on the Saints at 7:45 p.m.
The Drury men’s team is coming off an 89-79 win over Rockhurst on Saturday. The Panthers are 8-5 and have won two of their last three. Guard Quenton Shelton and forward Adam Moore both had 16 points, while 6-foot-9 forward Riek Riek had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds in the win.
The Panthers will see a Maryville team seeking its first win in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, as it is 0-5 in league play and 4-7 overall. Drury’s win on Saturday was its first GLVC victory, putting them 1-4 in the conference.
Freshman Juok Riak leads the Panthers with a season-scoring average of 15.2 points, and the 6-8 forward is shooting 69% from the field.
The Lady Panthers enter Thursday’s game 9-4 and 4-3 in the GLVC. Drury bounced back from a loss on Jan. 3 at Illinois Springfield to beat Rockhurst last Saturday, 77-49. That game was tied at halftime; then the Lady Panthers exploded to outscore the Hawks 47-19 in the second half. Beth Matas Martin led four Drury players in double figures with 15 points, and Reese Schaaf registered a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.
The Maryville women’s team will come to Springfield 6-7 and 3-4 in the conference. The Saints have won four straight, though, and earned a 78-75 win in overtime at Indianapolis on Saturday.
Matas Martin leads Drury’s scoring attack with a 15.2 scoring average and the graduate student from Spain is shooting 44% from 3-point range. Schaaf, a sophomore from El Dorado Springs, is averaging 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds.
Drury to honor 2004 Lady Panthers team Saturday
Drury University will honor the 2004 Lady Panthers basketball team on Saturday that finished as the NCAA Division II runner-up. Players and staff from the ’04 Drury team will be on hand and honored between games against Missouri S&T. The Drury men’s team plays the Miners at 1 p.m. with the women’s game at 3 p.m. Immediately following the men’s contest, members of the 2004 squad will be introduced to the crowd.
The ’04 Lady Panthers, playing in just their fourth season in program history, finished the season 36-2 and went 12-0 in the Heartland Conference. Drury won the conference title that year and advanced to the Elite Eight with an 81-63 win over Northeastern State in the South Central Regional championship game. The Lady Panthers followed that with a 94-83 win over Seattle Pacific in the national quarterfinals in St. Joseph, then took down Henderson State, 82-70, in the semifinals. California (Pennsylvania) edged Drury 75-72 in the national title game, but the memorable season cemented the Lady Panthers as a perennial power on the national scene in Division II.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Drury men's, women's basketball teams at home Thursday vs. Maryville
