Drury Sports Information - Scott Puryear

Drury's 25th-ranked basketball Panthers scored the game's first 15 points and cruised to a 78-51 victory over Ouachita Baptist in a non-conference contest Saturday afternoon at Weiser Gym.

Freshman guard Alex Hall scored 18 points to lead the Panthers in scoring for the fourth straight game as Drury improved to 4-0 on the season. Ouachita Baptist, a D-II member of the Gulf South Conference from Arkadelphia, Ark., fell to 1-3.

The Panthers held the Tigers without a point for the game's first eight minutes and went to claim a 41-12 lead by halftime. Hall hit 4 of 6 3-pointers in the half and 5 of 7 shots overall in leading DU with 14 points over the first 20 minutes.

Drury expanded the lead from there, pushing it as high as 36 points (twice) late in the game. Junior guard Chase Elliott finished with 11 points and junior forward Sahlih Butts added 10 points to join Hall in double-figures.

"I thought we did some really solid things in the first half and I thuoght they missed some things ... (OBU first-year coach mark Price) has got a young bunch," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "We got the ball inside, and Alex made four (3s) in the first half. He continues to make other teams get out and guard him, and what we tell our guys is it's going to continue to open up things for them.

"In the second half, because of the score, we got a little sloppy with the basketball and took some shots hopefully we wouldn't take if it was a tightly contested game."

Junior forward Andrew Taylor had seven rebounds to lead Drury, which was outrebounded 40-34 by the Tigers. The Panthers forced 27 turnovers by OBU while committing just 11.

The 78 points came with two of DU's top scorers spending most of the game on the sidelines. Junior forward Chris Parks was held scoreless in just six minutes of action before retiring to the bench to nurse a lingering leg injury, while sophomore forward Dominique Long battled foul problems and had five points in six minutes.

Drury opens Great Lakes Valley Conference play next week, visiting Saint Joseph's in Rensselaer, Ind., on Thursday (7:30 p.m. tipoff) and league newcomer Illinois-Springfield in a 3:15 tipoff on Saturday.

"It's very, very difficult to win on the road in our league," Hesser says. "It'll be a good test for our guys to see how it is playing on the road, because we haven't done that yet."