SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Drury's basketball Panthers couldn't have drawn up a better script for a national TV audience and a Senior Day crowd of 2,678 Saturday afternoon at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
Senior JaJuan Maxwell scored 22 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, senior Chris Parks had 18 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth career double-double and senior Andrew Taylor made the first 3-pointer of his two-year DU career as the Panthers rolled past Rockhurst 89-59 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play and the regular season finale.
The Panthers, who moved to 20-6 overall and finished 13-5 as champions of the GLVC West, will enter next weekend's GLVC Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the 12-team field. Drury will play host to 10th-seed Saint Joseph's at 4 p.m. next Saturday at the O'Reilly Center (Tickets available at www.drurytickets.com or by calling (417) 873-6389).
Alex Hall scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Panthers, who made their first-ever national TV appearance in the game carried live by CBS College Sports. And Hall made sure Drury took care of business early, nailing three 3-pointers in the first 2 minutes and 49 seconds to help the Panthers get off to a 13-2 lead over the Hawks, who had defeated DU 83-80 in Kansas City on January 2.
Drury went on to lead 42-30 at halftime and poured it on in the second half, outscoring the Hawks (8-18, 6-12) 47-29 over the final 20 minutes in cruising to the victory, securing their sixth 20-victory in seven seasons under coach Steve Hesser.
"I'm really proud of the way our guys came out and took care of business today," Hesser said. "And I'm happy for our seniors to be able to each have a game like this on Senior Day. Those three have been such a big part of what we're doing now, and they've truly been a joy to coach.
"Now the fun starts. Post-season play is what you play for. We've got work to do, starting with a big one Saturday here against Saint Joseph's. One game at a time."
There was even drama at the end. With the largest student turnout in years chanting for reserves Shane Rudman and Casey Fowler, Rudman answered with a career-high two rebounds and an assist in two minutes, feeding Fowler for a bucket underneath for his second field goal of the season.
"I want to say thanks to our students and fans today for coming out and providing a great atmosphere," Hesser said. "I know it meant a lot to our guys. They were tremendous today."
Aaron Morrissey had 21 points to lead Rockhurst, which got 12 points and 10 rebounds from Blake Baird.
Drury outrebounded the Hawks 51-34 and committed a season-low eight turnovers, with no turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the game. Sophomore point guard Brandon Lockhart had no turnovers and five assists in 37 minutes of court time, giving him now a total of 15 turnovers in his last 11 games.