SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Panthers used a 23-6 run midway through the second half to defeat Mid-America Christian 98-79 in an exhibition game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on Friday.
 
Drury owned a 52-34 lead at halftime, but the Evangels scrapped their way to within eight, 61-53, with 12:17 remaining. The Panthers would get a spark, however, and pushed the lead back to 21 six minutes later. DU eventually led by as much as 26 in the final five minutes.
 
"First of all, we didn't start the second half like we needed to," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "The good part about that was seeing how we handled it. You can either feel sorry for yourself to you can change some things.
 
"Sam Marshall gave us a spark and must have set some kind of record by taking six charges, and he also hit a couple of three's in that stretch. We also got some nice contributions in that run from Malek Davis and AJ White. Brandon Emmert gave us some good minutes tonight, and Conley Garrison and Cal Hartley gave us some scoring in the first half."
 
Garrison led the Panthers with 20 points, was 4 for 7 from three-point range, and the junior from Bolivar added six rebounds. Marshall finished with 17 points, six rebounds, and was 9 for 10 from the foul line.
 
Ashford Golden had a game-high 21 points to lead Mid-America Christian.
 
Drury owned a 42-32 rebound advantage and shot 47 percent from the field, hitting 30 of 63 shots, including 12 of 31 three-point tries. Mid-America Christian shot 43 percent going 24 for 55 and 8 for 26 (30 percent) from behind the arc.
 
The Panthers start the regular season on Nov. 8 when they take on Lake Superior State in the first game of the Trevecca Classic in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
 
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