SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- The Drury Panthers put together a strong second-half charge, but still came up short against the Lewis Flyers Saturday afternoon at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, dropping their Great Lakes Valley Conference contest by the final of 69-67.
 
The Flyers were able to pull away from Drury midway through the first half and held a 36-23 advantage at the break, but the Panthers clawed back to within one point over the first six minutes of the second half and ultimately battled to a 65-64 lead with less than two minutes to play. The Flyers, who went back in front by a point with 30 seconds left, survived an off-balance shot attempt on the final possession by Drury to hold on.
 
The win moved Lewis to 13-6 on the season and 8-4 in GLVC play.  With the loss, the Panthers dipped to an even 10-10 overall and 5-8 in league action.
 
"You know, I thought we got some good looks late and just needed one more stop or a bucket at the end, but credit to Lewis because those guys played hard," said Drury head coach Chris Foster.
 
Sophomore Zach Howell drained five second-half three-point shots to finish with 15 points to lead the Drury scoring.  Senior Brock Wakefield closed with 13 points, and junior Elijah Whitley chipped in 10.
 
Anthony Sayles came off the bench to lead the Flyer scoring, as he finished with 19 points.
 
The Panthers return to action on Thursday, February 6th, in a 7:30 pm game at Truman State.