SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- Despite a strong start to begin the game, the Drury Panthers were unable to contain an equally strong second half start by William Jewell Saturday afternoon and fell to the Cardinals 91-80 during Homecoming Weekend at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
The Panthers raced to an early advantage to open the game, grabbing a solid 23-9 lead, but the Cardinals stormed back, leading by a point late in the half, before Drury assumed a 38-37 halftime edge in the closing seconds.
 
But William Jewell came out sizzling after intermission, hitting on 13 of their first 16 second half shot attempts, many from long range, building a sizable lead that the Panthers could not overcome, sending Drury to 12-12 overall for the season and to 7-10 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
 
"27 points in transition," said Drury head coach Chris Foster.  "Every time we took a bad shot or every time we turned it over, they got an easy one, and we didn't do a good job of getting back.  Take away the transition baskets, and it's a different game."
 
The Panthers placed four players in double figures, with junior Logan Applegate leading the way with a 24-point effort.  Freshman Colin Hardrick added 16, sophomore Juok Riak finished with 14, and senior Brock Wakefield had 13.
 
The Cardinals went 14 of 31 from three-point range and were topped in scoring by Jason Thirdkill, Jr., who had 24 points.  The win moved William Jewell to 10-14 overall and 7-9 in conference play.
 
The Panthers will be off for the next week, resuming play on Saturday, February 22nd, when they travel to play Southwest Baptist in a 3 pm game in Bolivar.