LOUISVILLE, Ky.— With less than ten minutes remaining in regulation, the Drury Panthers had number one ranked Bellarmine tied up on the road, 52-52, but, fueled by a near-capacity crowd of 1,841, the Knights found another gear and pulled away. Bellarmine took advantage of four Drury turnovers, connected on a pair of three-pointers as well as free throws and lay-ups as they built a double-digit lead in less than four minutes on their way to an 81-59 win at Knights Hall in Louisville, Kentucky on Thursday.
 
Bellarmine maintained their perfect record and improved to 17-0 and 8-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference while the Panthers dropped to 9-10 and 3-5 in the league.
 
Drury trailed by nine late the first half but rallied to cut Bellarmine's lead to four at halftime, 42-38. The Panthers then pulled even with the Knights until Bellarmine's run midway through the second half.
 
"Bellarmine is a very good basketball team," noted Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "We were right with them for 33 minutes. We battled them with some smaller guys, and I thought we gave a yeoman's effort. But Bellarmine did what good teams do; they used their size advantage, and they wore us down."
 
The Knights, the top shooting team in all of NCAA-II (56 percent for the season), hit 31 of 49 shots for 63 percent. They also owned a 37-23 rebounding advantage over Drury.
 
Bellarmine's Alex Cook came off of the bench to record a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Preseason NCAA-II All-American Adam Eberhard led all scorers with 22 points on 9 for 15 shooting and added nine rebounds to go with five assists.
 
Allen Billinger led the Panthers with 19 points as the senior guard went 7 for 12 from the floor and 5 for 8 from three-point range. He was the only Drury player in double-figures as the Panthers were held to their lowest point total of the year.
  
The Panthers continue their road trip on Saturday as they travel to Southern Indiana for a 3 p.m. tipoff in Evansville.
 
 
#allweDUiswin