In control of its own destiny, Drury's basketball Panthers will look to secure another Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division title when they open a three-game homestand to close the regular season by entertaining William Jewell Thursday (8 p.m.) at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.

Coach Steve Hesser's Panthers are 16-7 overall and 10-5 in the GLVC, holding a one-game lead over Truman State (9-6 in the league) with three regular season games to play by each. Should the Panthers close out the season with wins over Jewell (10-13, 6-9) on Thursday, Rockhurst on Saturday afternoon and Missouri S&T on Senior Night (February 26), they would claim their third straight West title and the No. 2 seed (as well as a first-round bye) in the GLVC Championship post-season tournament. Truman has games at home with UMSL and at Maryville and Quincy remaining.

The Panthers will be looking for a series sweep against William Jewell, having beaten coach Larry Holley's Cardinals 74-57 in Liberty on January 17. In that contest, Drury raced out to a 39-19 halftime advantage, holding Jewell to 4-for-16 shooting from the field in the opening half. The lead grew as high as 30 points before the Cardinals heated up down the stretch to close the final gap to 17.

Jordan Lewis, a 6-0 senior, had 22 points (including 6-for-9 shooting from 3-point range) to lead the Cardinals in the first matchup. D'Vante Mosby, a 6-5 sophomore and the team's second leading scorer (12.6 ppg) and top rebounder (8.8 rpg, third in the GLVC), was held to two points and two rebounds in the first meeting. Lewis averages 14.4 points to pace the Cardinals, who lost to Lewis by one (74-73) and Parkside by nine (68-59) at home two weeks ago. The Cardinals split last weekend on the road, winning 72-71 at Illinois Springfield before falling 79-72 at McKendree.

Drury will be trying to bounce back from a tough road swing last weekend, falling 76-52 at Lewis on Thursday before dropping a 64-53 decision at No. 12 Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday. Cameron Adams led the Panthers with 15 points in the latter, but left the game with a lower back injury midway through the second half and did not return. His availability for DU on Thursday is questionable.

Kameron Bundy - who shot just 3-for-20 combined from the field in the two losses last week, but averaged 21.0 points over DU's four-game homestand prior to that trip - leads the Panthers with his 17.0 points per game, while Adams adds 16.9 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds.

Drury leads the all-time series with the Cardinals 36-31.

Thursday's game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM (streamed live at www.jock987.com) and can be seen in a live webcast at www.drurypanthers.com/watch.

GAME NOTES

*Adams, who ranks fourth in the GLVC in FG percentage (.652), has scored 1,458 points and grabbed 619 rebounds to rank 17th in scoring and 18th in rebounding on the all-time Drury charts. He joins Lonnie Holmes, Jerry Alexander, James Bone, Gail Fredrick, Marc Ridlen, Roland Schultz, Chris Mortellaro and Tony King as the only Panther players in the program's history to rank in the Top 20 in both categories.

*Drury is No. 31 in this week's Bennett Rankings (www.bennettrank.com). The GLVC occupies three of the top four spots with Bellarmine at No. 1, Indianapolis at No. 3 and Parkside at No. 4, while Lewis comes in at No. 16 this week.

*Bundy now has scored 1,086 points in his three seasons as a Panther, ranking him 32nd on the all-time DU scoring list. He needs six points to pass Mike Blakeslee on the charts.

*Drury's efforts of .316 FG shooting at Lewis and .396 at Parkside last week, remarkably, marked the first time since early in the 2008-09 season (a November 28 win at Maryville, a December 2 loss at Ouachita Baptist) that the Panthers had shot below 40 percent from the field in consecutive games.

*The Panthers have not lost three games in a row since falling at Kentucky Wesleyan and Southern Indiana and at home to Bellarmine on January 5, 7 and 12, 2012.

*Drury is 68-7 all-time at The O' since it opened before the 2010-11 season. The Panthers are 9-2 there this season and have won 35 of their last 37 games at the O'Reilly Center.

*Tickets are going fast for Saturday's Homecoming/Overflow The O'/Alex Hall & Brandon Lockhart Jersey Retirement Ceremony game vs. Rockhurst, which is scheduled to tip around 3:15 p.m. The Hall/Lockhart Ceremony will take place shortly after the conclusion of the Lady Panthers/Rockhurst game, which tips off at 1 p.m. Saturday at The O'. For tickets, call (417) 873-6389 or visit the O'Reilly Center Box Office (lower level) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.