SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Illinois Springfield owned a 25-20 lead over Drury with 7:20 remaining in the first half, and then the game changed. The Panthers took over and outscored the Prairie Stars 19-3 for the rest of the half and carried that momentum into the second half on their way to an 80-60 win over UIS on Thursday night in Springfield, Illinois.
 
Drury improved to 13-4 and 6-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Illinois Springfield dropped to 12-7 and 4-5 in the league.
 
Douglas Moore led the Panthers with a season-high 19 points and went 8 for 10 from the field. The junior from Lawton, Oklahoma also had a season-high with nine rebounds.
 
Conley Garrison added 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists while Andrew Ballock turned in a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
"(Illinois Springfield) can really guard and they caused some problems for us early," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "In the last four minutes of the second half, I thought we settled down, got some good ball movement and good player movement, and that led to some open shots. That continued for the first four minutes of the second half, and we were able to build a nice lead."
 
Drury led by as much as 28 in the second half and held off the Prairie Stars for a 20-point win.
 
The Panthers shot 55 percent from the field going 29 for 52 and connected on 11 of their 21 three-point attempts.
 
Illinois Springfield managed just 34 percent shooting in the game and were outrebounded by Drury 45-25. None of the Prairie Stars scored in double-figures.
 
"We did some nice things on defense," said Hesser. "We're getting better defensively, but we're going to need to continue to get better. If you're going to win in basketball or in any sport, you have to be good defensively, and we have to keep working at it."
 
Thursday's game ended a stretch of four straight road games for the Panthers. Drury returns home on Saturday to host William Jewell on Overflow the O' day. Tipoff is at 3 p.m. at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
##