Alex Hall set a new Drury single-game record for 3-pointers made with nine and scored 33 points to lead the Panthers past Missouri Science and Technology 88-52 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both Thursday night at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
Drury improved to 6-0 for just the third time since making the move to the NCAA-II level in 1994-95 with its 12th consecutive victory at home.
Hall made 9 of his 10 3-point tries, pulling out of a jam at the old record of eight (that he'd accomplished three times) and shared with Matt Miller, Tim Oetting and Steven Gum (twice).
The 6-2 senior made the record bomb with 4:47 to go, putting the Panthers up 82-47. Hall left to a standing ovation from the crowd of 1,679 at the next dead ball, and to high-fives from his Panther teammates. Hall's 33-point night also gave him 1,615 points now for his DU career, moving him past Tommy Deffebaugh (1,598 points from 1981-85) and into 10th place on the all-time charts. Roland Schultz is ninth at 1,633 points from 1967-71.
Drury coach Steve Hesser had reinserted Hall into the lineup shortly before that moment when assistant coaches Ja Havens - and Gum - reminded him that Hall was at the eight treys made mark once again.
"He deserved an opportunity to have one more shot at it, with the career he's had," Hesser said. "He was going to get one shot.
"He had a fever (all night) ... and the guys did a good job - Lockhart in particular - of getting him the basketball and getting him open coming off the screens."
It was the only remaining drama in a game in which Drury raced to a 44-28 halftime lead, stalled briefly early in the second half as S & T kept it at a 14-point deficit (54-40) as late as the 11-minute mark, then roared away with a 21-4 run over the next five minutes.
Cameron Adams was the only other Panther to reach double-figures with 10 points and shared team rebounding honors with Brandon Lockhart and Teddy Simniok with five each.
Hall got off to a quick start, hitting his first five shots, including four 3-pointers in the first seven and a half minutes of the contest. And, as if the long-range show wasn't enough, Hall electrified the crowd with a monster dunk after a steal with eight minutes to go that put DU up 68-42 as the Panthers went into stifling mode on defense once again.
S & T hit just 38 percent from the field for the game (21 of 55), including 33 percent from 3-point range (8 of 24).
"Our defense was good in the first half, but our rebounding wasn't good," Hesser said. "And then we started kind of flat in the second half defensively, but we had a stretch there where the juice got going and we caused them some problems with the press and got some stuff out of it."
S & T committed 22 turnovers compared to just 13 by the Panthers.
Lockhart, who ranked sixth in the nation in assists per game (7.6) coming into the contest, had 10 assists to go with his eight points, five rebounds and five steals in 31 minutes.
Bryce Foster led S & T with 19 points while Mudi Eruteya added 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Miners (2-3, 0-1).
Drury is now idle until a Dec. 15 game at Wayne State in Detroit, Mich.
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