FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.— Drury mounted a furious comeback against 12th ranked Barry but fell by a point, 82-81, in the first game of the Cruzin' Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday.
 
The Panthers rallied from 22 points down in the second half to lead by one late in regulation. Barry led 70-48 with 13:11 remaining but Drury chipped away, and Conley Garrison's three-pointer with 6:50 left cut the deficit to single-digits. An Allen Billinger three with 4:43 to go gave the Panthers a one-point lead, but the Buccanneers answered on the next possession on a three-pointer by Daniel Mortensen to go back in front 79-77.
 
With 12 seconds left, two free throws from Garrison tied the game at 81-81, but Barry anwered as they got the ball inside to Marko Tomic who was fouled two seconds remaining. Tomic made his first free throw but missed the second and Drury could not beat the clock for a game-winning attempt.
 
"I'm extremely proud of our guys…they had an extremely difficult travel day yesterday and had a built-in excuse to lay down," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser referring his team arriving in Florida a day later than scheduled due to multiple canceled and re-routed flights. "I was disappointed in the second half in how we came out, but we made a couple of substitutions, and we showed some grit and some fight in coming back." 
 
Billinger led the Panthers with a career-high 28 points. The senior from Carbondale, Illinois went 10 for 17 from the field and 5 for 9 from three-point range. Conley Garrison added 24 points while Andrew Ballock had 15 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
 
Mortensen led the Buccaneers with 26 points, and the 6-8 native of Denmark went 7 for 13 from three-point range.
 
"I thought we took a step forward today," added Hesser. "We've been preparing the right way, and I told the team that if we keep doing that and we clean up some of the dead spots (during games), then we're going to be fine. We just have to use this as a positive and a learning experience."
 
Barry, a team that advanced to last year's NCAA-II Elite Eight, improved to 7-1 while Drury fell to 6-5.
 
The Panthers return to action on Tuesday in their second game of the Cruzin' Classic as they take on St. Thomas (Fla.) at 6:30 p.m. (Central) in Fort Lauderdale. 
 
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