SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- The Drury Panthers used an impressive second half showing to upend the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist 86-67 in the annual Highway 13 Catfight showdown at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
Down by one point in the early stages of the second half the Panthers raced away from the Bearcats, using a 20-6 scoring surge to jump to an 11 point lead and continued to build on that, draining 8 of 13 shots from three-point range in the second half to coast to their fourth win in a row and improve to 5-1 overall and now 1-0 in GLVC league play.
 
Balanced scoring was key to the win, as the Panthers placed six players in double figures on the night and finished shooting  54 percent from the field.
 
"I thought for 25 minutes or so, we were behind the play a lot and it caused us to foul, but it was good to see the guys make adjustments down the stretch," said Drury head coach Chris Foster.
 
Sophomore Zack Howell led the way for Drury, dropping in a team high 17 points. Junior Logan Applegate had 16, senior Quenton Shelton and sophomore Juok Riak had 14 each, while senior Brock Wakefield and junior Elijah Whitley closed with 10 each.
 
"I told the guys after the game that we're fortunate because not all teams have the kind of depth we have and certainly all teams don't have the depth that will stay ready when their number is called," added Foster.
 
The Panthers forced the Bearcats into 20 turnovers for the game, while committing just eight.
 
Bayley Crawford topped the scoring for SBU with 16 points as the Bearcats dropped to 3-3 and 1-1 in the GLVC with the loss.
 
The Panthers are back in action at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on Thursday, December 5th, when they will host Quincy in a 5:45 pm GLVC showdown.