SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Down as many as 15, Truman State Men's Basketball snatched a 78-77 victory away from Drury (Mo.) as time expired Saturday.
 
Junior guard Xavier Hall's jump shot at the buzzer gave the Bulldogs their first Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) win after opening 0-2 on the campaign. Hall, who led Truman State with 19 points on 7-10 shooting, notched five assists to go with eight boards and a perfect 3-3 behind the arc.
 
Down 9-8 in the early going, Truman State went on an 18-2 run behind three treys from redshirt sophomore guard Casen Lawrence to climb to a 23-11 lead. It would prove to be short lived as a 20-4 run from the Panthers who got nine points from redshirt sophomore guard Zach Howell while the squad shot 7-9. Howell scored a game-high 25 points while draining 6 of 13 three-point attempts. 
 
Truman State, trailing 47-37 at the break, opened the second half outscoring Drury 13-3 to knot the score at 50 with 16:37 to play. With neither squad able to get separation of more than four points, a layup by junior forward Brennan Lovette got the 'Dogs within one, 77-76, with 41 seconds to go to set up Hall's heroics at the end.
 
Senior guard Trey Shearer went 5-14 from three-point depth to score 15 while redshirt junior forward Landon Eiland and Lawrence each contributed 12. Sophomore guard Kobi Williams tossed in ten to round out Purple and White double-digit scorers.
 
The 5-4 overall, 1-2 GLVC Bulldogs return to Pershing Arena at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, December 17th, for their final home contest of 2024 against Grand View (Iowa) University. Drury falls to 5-3 overall, 1-2 in GLVC action.