SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Panthers spent most of Thursday night trailing the Lewis Flyers but found a way to grind out an 84-82 win at the O'Reilly Family Event Center claiming their third straight victory and improving to 14-7 on the season and 7-6 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
The Panthers did not lead in the contest until 5:50 to play, moving in front of the Flyers 70-69, then on the strength of a 14-3 run were able to gain a six-point lead and held off the visitors down the stretch to secure the decision.
"I thought Lewis came in here and executed and really tried hard," said Drury head coach
Steve Hesser. "They were physical and knocked us back a bit, but they didn't knock us down, and I thought we got back up and did some good things."
The Panthers were able to overcome a sizzling first-half shooting display by the Flyers, who hit their first eleven attempts of the game and broke in front 13-0, then finished the opening twenty minutes draining 20 of 25 shots, good for 80 percent from the field. But Drury slowly cut into the deficit and trailed just 48-45 at intermission.
"I'm not a numbers guy, but I don't understand how we could only be down three when they shoot eighty percent in the half, but we were, and that kept us in the game," added Hesser.
Junior
Conley Garrison, pressured throughout the contest by a strong Lewis defense, paced the Drury scoring, finishing with 25 points on seven of nine shooting from the field and seven of eight from the free throw line. Junior
Cal Hartley added 14, and senior
Lane Duncan dropped in 13.
Anthony D'Avanzo topped the scoring for Lewis (10-11, 5-8), finishing with 25.
Both teams were impressive shooting the ball, with Lewis hitting on 35 of 52 for a 67 percent effort, while the Panthers were good on 30 of 51 attempts for 59 percent. Rebounds were at a premium because of the shooting, and the two teams split the 44 total boards with 22 each.
The Panthers are back in action at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, Saturday, February 8th, when they entertain Illinois-Springfield in a 3 pm showdown during Overflow the O' day presented by O'Reilly Auto Parts.
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