LIBERTY, Mo.— The Drury Panthers pulled away from William Jewell in the second half to win their sixth straight game with an 89-59 win on Saturday in Liberty, Missouri.
Drury improved to 17-7 and 10-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference while the Cardinals fell to 9-15 and 4-12 in the league.
The Panthers outscored William Jewell 54-30 in the second half after owing a 35-29 lead at the intermission. Drury started the game on a 13-0 run, only to have William Jewell score the next 13 points to draw even. The Panthers pushed the lead back to double-digits late in the half, but the Cardinals chipped away, and Nick Bradley's three-pointer in the closing seconds pulled William Jewell within six at the break.
Drury then opened the second half on an 8-0 run and held the Cardinals to 1 for 10 shooting for the first nine minutes of the half.
"In the first half, we played what I call a 'miss-defense' - that is, you only get stops when they miss shots," said Drury head coach
Steve Hesser. "In the second half, I thought our effort and energy-level was a lot better. Then Conley (Garrison) hit a couple of shots, and when he got going, we were able to pull away."
Drury guard
Cal Hartley had career-highs in both points and rebounds as the junior from Benton, Kansas, produced his first double-double as a Panther with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Hartley went 9 for 12 from the field and 6 for 8 from three-point range.
Garrison had 20 points scoring 18 of them in the second half. The junior from Bolivar added nine assists and three steals.
"Cal's shooting kept us in it in the first half," said Hesser. "We shot the three well, and that carried us until we were able to do a better job on a couple of their guys."
Senior guard Nick Bradley led William Jewell with 29 points while Eysan Wiley had 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Drury out-rebounded the Cardinals 43-28 and shot 53 percent from the field hitting 29 of their 55 attempts. The Panthers also went 14 for 27 from behind the arc for 52 percent.
William Jewell connected on just 32 percent of their shots going 19 for 60.
Drury's win marked their first victory at William Jewell since Jan. 17, 2015. The Panthers had lost four straight to the Cardinals in Liberty.
Drury is back at home on Thursday when they host Truman State. The Bulldogs entered the weekend with the best winning percentage in the GLVC. Tipoff is at 7:45 pm in the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
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