BETHANY, Okla. – Southern Nazarene took advantage of three Drury turnovers down the stretch in an 80-71 win over the Panthers at the Sawyer Center on Friday night in Bethany, Oklahoma.
 
Drury erased a five-point Crimson Storm lead midway through the first half and tied the game at 60-60 on a three-point play by Clay Gayman with 7:56 remaining. The Panthers then took the first lead of the second half a minute later on a lay-up by Obi Okafor.
 
But Southern Nazarene tied the game at 64, and forced the Panthers into turnovers on three of the next four possessions. The Crimson Storm moved back in front by four, 68-64, with 4:22 remaining, and held off Drury with free throws down the stretch.
 
"We were moving the ball better, we started to make them miss, and we were rebounding," said Drury head coach Chris Foster on his team's rally. "But then we had turnovers, and you just can't have that many against good teams. We gave up momentum, they got a couple of lay-ups, and it was hard to recover from."
 
Okafor led the Panthers with 18 points while Malek Davis added 16.
 
Jalen Lynn led Southern Nazarene with 21 points.
 
Drury commited 16 turnovers while the Crimson Storm only committed six.
 
The Panthers are at home for the first this next week when they host Southeastern Oklahoma State on Tuesday in the first day of the DoubleTree Thanksgiving Classic. Tipoff is at 7:45 pm at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
 
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