SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Panthers used a stifling defense to pick up their first win of the season with a 90-38 victory over Saint Mary (Kan.) at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on Friday.
 
Drury improved to 1-3 while the Spires fell to 0-4.
 
The Panthers held Saint Mary to 25 percent shooting in the game as the Spires went 13 for 52 from the field. Drury, who led 38-17 at halftime, shut out Saint Mary for the first eight minutes of the second half to blow open the lead.
 
Conley Garrison led Drury with 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Allen Billinger added 14 points.
 
"I thought we did some good things defensively," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "We've got a good shooting team, but after four ballgames we haven't shot it anywhere close to what we're capable of…and I was happy with 99 percent of the shots we took tonight; we just had several that went in-and-out. But we cut down on our turnovers tonight, and that was a major emphasis in practice this week."
 
Drury shot 51 percent from the field but just 26 percent from behind the arc going 8 for 31.
 
No Saint Mary player reached double-figures.
 
Drury is home again on Tuesday when they host Southwest Baptist in the Bank of Bolivar Highway 13 Catfight at 7:45 p.m. at the O'Reilly Family Event Center. 
 
 
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