SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Struggling through a five-game losing skid, the Drury Panthers were in search of a signature win Thursday night, and they got it, as they downed the Lindenwood Lions, 90-71 at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
And as he has done so many times in the past, senior
Conley Garrison was the catalyst to the win.
Garrison paced the Panthers with a double-double night, scoring 24 and pulling down a career-best 13 rebounds while playing thirty-six minutes. He also finished with five assists and five steals.
His 24-point performance moved him to 11th overall in Drury program scoring history, now with a total of 1,639 points.
The victory ended Drury's five-game slide, dating back to Jan. 16, and moved them to 6-8 on the season as well as in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
"They put their egos in their back pockets and did things right tonight, and it was really good to see that," said Drury head coach
Steve Hesser. "Now, hopefully, they can learn from this as we move on."
Drury opened the game on an 11-0 scoring run to set the tone. Garrison would pace the attack in the opening half, scoring 16 points and pulling down nine rebounds before intermission. They stretched that margin to sixteen points early in the second half and continued to pull away from the Lions, leading by as many as 24.
The Panthers hit on 15 of 29 three-point attempts, led by sophomore
Jason Montgomery, who was 6 of 8 from long range and finished with 20 points. Fellow sophomore
Malek Davis joined in the scoring barrage, tossing in 19.
"We went through a stretch this season where we got the ball to Conley and wanted him to be Superman instead of the other guys stepping up, but by them giving us some points tonight, that really helped us," added Hesser.
T J Crockett topped the scoring for the Lions, with a team-high 22 as Lindenwood fell to 7-8 overall as well in GLVC play.
Paced by Garrison's efforts on the boards, the Panthers dominated the rebounding, pulling down 41 to 26 for the Lions.
The Panthers are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 6th, when they host Missouri-St. Louis in a 2 pm GLVC contest at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
#MoreThanChampions
