BOLIVAR, Mo. – Southwest Baptist improved to 8-2 as they held off the Drury Panthers for a 75-63 win on Thursday in Bolivar, Missouri. Drury fell to 5-4 with the loss.
 
The Bearcats built an 11-point lead in the first half, and Drury had opportunities to cut into the margin when they held SBU scoreless for more than four minutes but could only get within eight, 43-35 at halftime.
 
Southwest Baptist never led by more than 13 in the second half, but Drury got within eight, 69-61, with 4:45 left, but the Bearcats held the Panthers off the board until the game's final seconds and pulled away to win by 12.
 
"The better team won tonight, so hats off to them," said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. "We'd guard them, but they don't panic…they'd keep running their stuff, and we'd have a breakdown late, not finish the possession, and they'd get a backdoor cut for an easy basket. If they did miss, they'd get the rebound…we got killed on the backboards tonight."
 
The Bearcats outrebounded Drury 40-21 and were led by Brady Smith's nine boards.
 
Conley Garrison led the Panthers with 18 points but was Drury's only double-figure scorer.
 
Mitch Ganote led Southwest Baptist with a game-high 21 points while Quinn Nelson added 18.
 
Drury shot 40 percent from the field in the game, going 23 for 57 but were also a season-low 53 percent from the foul-line going just 10 of 19.
 
The Bearcats went 27 for 56 from the floor for 48 percent and connected on 15 of their 18 free-throw attempts.
 
The Panthers get a rematch with Southwest Baptist in their next game as they take on Bearcats on Tue., Jan. 26, at the O'Reilly Family Event Center for a 6:05 pm tipoff.
 
 
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