Finally: Drury men move past COVID-19, open with a loss

After a month in COVID-19 limbo, the Drury Panthers opened their season in frustrating fashion on Friday night.

They fell 96-89 to Missouri S&T at O’Reilly Family Event Center. The motivated Miners won for the first time in six games this season and the first time at Drury since 1977.

They earned it, consistently staving off the Panthers late in the game.

Drury rallied from 18 points down to cut the S&T lead to six on late treys by sophomore guards Jason Montgomery and Malek Davis.

Led by their guards Julien Smith and Kevin Legardy, though, the Miners made critical shots and refused to fold. Smith led them with a career-high 30 points, while Legardy and Ryan Parker added 20 apiece. S&T also won…