Panthers defend home winning streak Nov. 23

The Drury Panthers are preparing for the upcoming season minus reigning Heartland Conference Player of the Year Matt Miller. Yet head coach Gary Stanfield is conducting business as usual during his pre-season practices.

Miller is recovering from surgery after experiencing an avulsion fracture in his foot last summer.

"We don't want to rush it to the point where we could jeopardize the success of the recovery," Stanfield said of Miller, the senior shooting guard and All-American from Parkview High School.

Both player and coach are shooting for a Nov. 16 return for Drury's first regular season game at Midwestern State Uni-versity, but in the meantime Stanfield will rely on the experience of five other senior players.

Experience and talent

"I think that good things happen when you get experience on the floor," Stan-field said. "Certainly, when you get experience and talent on the floor, even better things happen. We've got the experience; now we've got to exhibit the talent. Talent ... is fundamentally sound play, and that's what we hope to exhibit on the floor."

Six seniors Miller, Marc Mayer, Brandon Morris, Duncan Ogilvie, Mario Ivic and Ke'Lan Mitchell is a large number for any team, said Stanfield. Of the group, Miller, forward Morris and point guard Mitchell are all returning starters and double figure scorers from last year's 19-7 team. The Panthers finished in a three-way tie for the Heartland Conference championship.

"We have a nice group of seniors and we're looking for that senior leadership to step forth and provide some answers to the chemistry problem a lot of teams face early in the year," Stanfield said.

Vacancy at center

The center position was left vacant due to Shon Eilenstein's graduation last year. Stanfield said Ivic, a native of Croatia, and sophomore Chris Mortellaro both 6-foot-10, are battling for that starting center spot. "Mortellaro is playing ex-tremely well as a sophomore," Stanfield said "He's the standout of the young ones right now."

The other loss from last year, Stanfield added, was another key starter and rebounder, Sherman Barthelmy. The two averaged a combined 12 rebounds per game.

"We're looking for the right people to put in the right places," Stanfield said. "The biggest concern is rebounding."

Stanfield is looking for Ogilvie, Mortellaro and Morris, who averaged six rebounds per game last season, to pick up the rebounding slack.

Lead by Miller, who averaged 21.1 points per game and has scored double figures in 66 straight games, Stanfield thinks this offense can continue to score from the outside.

Shooting

"We have traditionally shot the ball well," he said. "I think we'll shoot it better from outside than we did last year and we weren't bad last year." He also hopes to improve the team's free throw shooting, which has been solid in the past as well. "I think those are our positive qualities," he added.

This year's pre-season polls have Drury picked second, sandwiched between Lincoln University and St. Mary's University. The three teams shared the conference championship last year.

While Miller received the conference's top individual honor last year, the Heartland Conference Pre-season Player of the Year selection was Lincoln's senior Kenny Dye. However, this year Miller has been named to Street & Smith Magazine's NCAA Division II All-America First Team. It's an honor that came somewhat as a surprise to the guard, who is ranked 11th on Drury's all-time scoring list.

"It's kind of shocking and kind of overwhelming when they name me one of the top five players in America," he said. "Obviously, it sets the standard and the bar pretty high to go out and perform."

But Miller keeps a good perspective of the accolades. "The only thing I know I can control is that I can go out and play as hard as I can every night," Miller added. "I try to go out and outdo myself each year ... within the course of helping the team win."

Winning has become habit at Drury's Weiser Gym. The Panthers have won 34 straight home games spanning the last three seasons, which is the longest current streak in NCAA Division II. Drury will defend the streak beginning Nov. 23 with its Thanksgiving Classic.