SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- On an afternoon when Drury University celebrated Senior Day and the 40th anniversary of their 1979 NAIA national basketball championship, the Panthers closed out their regular season with a 92-73 win over the Cardinals of William Jewell at the O'Reilly Family Event Center. The win was Drury's tenth in a row and saw them close the regular season 19-10 overall and 13-5 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
 
Freshman Conley Garrison and senior Andrew Ballock paced an up-tempo offensive attack for the Panthers, with Garrison finishing with a game-high 27 points and Ballock with 21. Garrison and Ballock were both effective from long range, as Garrison hit on 6 of 10 and Ballock 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.
 
The Panthers led 47-38 at halftime as Garrison and Ballock each had 16 points before intermission. The Cardinals (12-18, 6-12) kept the first half close hitting on eight three-point attempts, with eight lead changes and four ties before halftime.
 
"I'm proud of the progress that we've made because this was a very trying season," said Steve Hesser, Drury head coach. "We had some things not go our way early and lost some close games, but we told the guys after a buzzer-beater loss at Indianapolis that things were 0-0 from that point and I think they responded well."
 
Seniors John Williams and Tyler Clanton closed out their home careers with 10 points each for Drury, while Eysan Wiley topped the William Jewell scoring effort with a team-high 20. Drury shot 54 percent for the game on 34 of 63 and had 26 assists and outrebounded the Cardinals 42-30.
 
"You want to finish strong and be playing your best basketball at the end of the year, and we are and really looking forward to next week and the conference tournament," added Hesser.
 
The contest was the final event in the 48-year coaching career for Jewell head coach Larry Holley, who had announced that this would be his final season on the Jewell bench. Holley, who was recognized by the Drury program prior to tipoff, ends his career with an overall record of 919-578.
 
The Panthers will move on to compete in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament starting March 7th at Edwardsville, Illinois.
 
 
#allweDUiswin