INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.— Indianapolis overpowered Drury on their way to an 82-51 win at home over the Panthers on Saturday.
 
The Greyhounds, the preseason favorite to win the Great Lakes Valley Conference in the league's preseason poll, improved to 4-4 and 2-0 in the conference. Drury fell to 5-3 and 0-2 in the GLVC.
 
Indianapolis used their size and strength advantage to shoot 52 percent from the floor as they made 29 of their 56 shots and scored 30 points in the paint. The perimeter then opened up for the Greyhounds in the second half as they connected on 9 of 12 three-point tries after halftime to pull away.
 
"Indianapolis is a team that you have to play with some discipline against," said Panthers head coach Chris Foster. "They get you sped up and if you get off your feet around the rim or if you throw habit-passes, that plays right into their hands. I thought, in the first half, we really struggled with that. We didn't play focused enough to execute and take advantage of some things that were open on the offensive end."
 
Paul Zilinskas and Jesse Bingham both had 18 points to lead the Greyhounds, a team that finished the season 26-5 and reached the NCAA-II last season.  
 
Drury was held to 31 percent shooting as they made 18 of 59 shots and were just 7 of 30 from three-point range.
 
Elijah Whitley had 11 points to lead Drury. The sophomore from Springfield-Parkview came off the bench and double-figures in his third-straight game. 
 
Drury was without 6-8 forward Juok Riok. Riok, who leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.6 points and shooting 68 percent from the field, was forced out of the game after being issued a flagrant foul in the first half of the Panthers' Thursday game at Lewis.
 
The Panthers return home to face the University of the Ozarks on Tuesday for a 5:45 pm game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
 
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