ROMEOVILLE, Ill.—The Drury Panthers led the league-leading Lewis Flyers for most of the game on Thursday, but Lewis pushed ahead midway through the second half and hung on for a 78-72 win at home in Romeoville, Illinois.
 
Lewis improved to 12-8 and 10-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Drury, who entered the game having won three of their last four, dropped to 8-13 and 5-8 in the GLVC.
 
Drury pulled ahead the first half and built a 38-29 at the intermission. They took a 12-point lead in the second half after Obi Okafor's three-point play that gave the Panthers a 43-31 advantage.
 
The Flyers clamped down on Drury midway through the second half, though, and held the Panthers to just seven points a nine-minute span. Lewis took their first lead since early in the second half with 6:40 remaining on a lay-up by Dre Bell. Drury couldn't regain the lead or pull even again as the Flyers held on to win by six.
 
"It takes a good 40 minutes to win on the road in this league, and I thought, offensively, Lewis slowed us down a little bit in the second half, but it was our defense that hurt us," said Drury head coach Chris Foster. "We gave up around 30 points in the paint in the second half and 49 points (in the half) overall, and you just can't do that."
 
The Flyers outscored Drury 49-34 after halftime as Bell finished with a game-high 23 points and Connor Niego added 21 points with 10 rebounds.
 
Drury's Obi Okafor had a double-double for the second straight game. The senior from Las Vegas and a career-high 21 points and added 11 rebounds.
 
The Panthers continue the road trip on Saturday as they take Indianapolis for a 2 pm (CST) game.
 
 
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