BOX SCORE
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -Freshman guard Alex Hall hit eight 3-pointers for the second straight game and scored 29 points - all but two coming in the first half - as Drury rolled to a 108-81 victory over Central Christian on Thursday night at Weiser Gym.
Hall, a Springfield Kickapoo High School product, hit 8 of 10 treys in the first half en route to a 27-point explosion in 18 minutes of playing time as the Panthers (2-0) took a 65-35 lead into the break. His eight 3-pointers tied the DU record he also tied in Monday night's 99-86 victory over No. 3 Southwest Baptist, a record also shared by former Panthers Matt Miller, Steven Gum and Tim Oetting.
Hall opened with 33 points in his college debut Monday night against SBU.
"Give his teammates credit ... Alex can shoot it, and his teammates are allowing him to," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "Sometimes in the 'Disease of Me,' you can have some guys say 'ooh ... I'm going to freeze him out.' But I think that's the growth we've made. We've stressed to our guys that we need Alex to take shots for us to be good, and they've bought into that."
Hall, now averaging 31.0 points per game in his very brief collegiate career, had just two points after halftime, when he took just five shots and played 12 minutes as the Panthers cleared the bench in the rout. He finished hitting 10 of 17 shots overall, including 8 of 13 from 3-point range, as Drury hit 54 percent from the field (43 of 79) as a team.
"He's a focal point, and he's going to continue to be a focal point," Hesser said. "He's going to have to pay some real attention to detail, because he's going to have a big target on his back from now on."
Junior forward Chris Parks added 18 points and six rebounds and sophomore forward Dominique Long had 13 points and five boards as Drury amassed a 58-26 rebounding advantage. Junior guard/forward Chase Elliott led the way with nine rebounds and had seven of Drury's 35 assists, while freshman forward Cable Hogue added eight boards - all in the second half - in just 14 minutes.
Central Christian (4-3), which outscored the Panthers 46-43 in the second half, got 41 points from senior guard Sean High, who lit up Fort Hays State for 42 points on Wednesday.
"Our effort, attention to detail and toughness around the basket wasn't good in the second half," Hesser said. "We talked in our pregame about not putting (High) on the free-throw line. Last night at Hays he goes for 42 and goes to the line 17 times, and tonight he gets 41 and goes to the line 16 times. He's a very good basketball player, and he knows the tricks of the trade."
Elliott was close to a triple-double with nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 20 minutes of play.
"Chase is a young man that we've gotten some pounds off of ... he's down to 185 after coming in here at 215, and you can see it in his quickness and his jumping," Hesser said. "I told him last night that if he keeps listening and keeps trying, he's just going to keep getting better and better ... He's a good one."
The Panthers return to action on Monday (7 p.m.) at Weiser against Mid-America Christian, an NAIA Division I team from Oklahoma City. Mid-America lost at NCAA Division I Texas Christian 74-69 on November 13.