Tyrone Davidson

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- An ice-cold first half put the Miners in a deficit it could not overcome as they lost their second straight Great Lakes Valley Conference game away from home 80-66 Saturday afternoon at Drury University.

UMR shot just 25 percent in the first half and scored only two points – on two free throws by Tyrone Davidson – in the final 9:12 of the first half. Those struggles put the Miners into a hole over the last 10 minutes of the opening period.

The Miners were tied with Drury at seven after a three-point basket by Justin Taylor five minutes into play, but the Panthers scored 10 of the next 12 points to build an eight-point lead. UMR drew to within four on a long three-pointer by Joe Shardo at the 10:44 mark, but then went into the drought that put them into a 17-point deficit by halftime.

Casey Noll scored with 9:12 to go in the half, which turned out to be UMR’s last points from the floor in the opening half. That made the score 23-17, then Drury put seven straight points on the board before the Davidson free throws with 4:44 to play.

The Panthers led 36-19 at the intermission, then pushed their lead out beyond 20 points in the early stages of the second half

Davidson had a big second half for the Miners, scoring 14 of his team-high 18 points after the intermission. UMR also hit seven of its 10 three-point baskets in the game in the final 20 minutes, four of which came from Yamani Ball, as it outscored the Panthers 47-44 after the break.

Ball finished with 14 points and Shardo with 13 for the Miners.

UMR had a tough time all afternoon with the Panthers’ combination of Collins Harris and Steven Gum, with Harris doing his damage on the inside with 18 points and Gum connecting on eight three-point baskets for the bulk of his game-high 26 points on the afternoon for the Panthers (7-1, 3-1 GLVC).

The Miners (4-5, 1-3 GLVC) return to action Dec. 18 when they host Central Christian in a 7 p.m. game at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.