SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – William Jewell used a 16-5 scoring run to overcome a four-point second-half deficit and defeat Drury men's basketball by a 73-69 score in Great Lakes Valley Conference action Sunday afternoon at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
The visiting Cardinals (6-7, 2-3 GLVC) rode a 21-point performance from Justice Sutton to victory after holding the Panthers to 1-of-7 shooting over a five-minute stretch in which they turned a 53-49 Drury lead into a seven-point advantage.
William Jewell came up big down the stretch, knocking down 12-of-13 (.923) second-half free-throw attempts to help seal the victory. The trio of Sutton, Kyle Scharbrough and Bradley Lightbourne combined for 30 of the Cardinals' 40 points after intermission, as well as seven steals to help Jewell force 15 DU turnovers. The Cardinals finished with a 17-5 scoring advantage in points off of turnovers.
After KeShaun Thomas and Isaiah Otyaluk combined to score Drury's first 10 points of the second half, and back-to-back buckets by Zach Howell and Luke Stubbs handed the Panthers a four-point lead, Scharbrough drained a pair of free throws with 8:02 to play to kick off the game's critical stretch. Kanukayi Gudza came up with a steal and fed Sutton for the game-tying layup, before Scarbrough and Lightbourne converted layups on consecutive possessions to give the Cardinals a 57-55 lead.
After Thomas sank a pair of free throws to tie the score, Ashton Jermain buried a three-pointer and Gudzak scored in transition and completed a three-point play after being fouled to stretch the Jewell lead to 63-57. Sutton's turnaround jumper at the 3:09 mark made it a seven-point game.
Drury (6-7, 1-4 GLVC) trimmed the deficit to three points by the two-minute mark on a pair of Colin Hardrick three-pointers. Thomas added a basket in the paint with 52 seconds left to pull the Panthers to within 67-66.
But DU would get no closer, as Sutton and Lightbourne combined to go 6-of-6 at the charity stripe over the final 29 seconds to lock up the win for the Cardinals.
The back-and-forth second half followed a similar pattern as the first stanza, which featured six ties and three lead changes before the Cardinals scored seven of the final 11 points of the period to take a 33-32 lead into the locker room.
The two offenses started the afternoon slowly, combining to go just 5-of-19 from the floor, before Jewell heated up with seven straight points to kick off an 18-6 spurt that resulted in a 22-14 advantage -- the largest of the day for either club. Sutton scored eight of those points to lead the Cardinals, who limited the Panthers to 2-of-11 shooting while forcing six turnovers during the run.
Drury rebounded behind five straight points by Howell and an Otyaluk three-pointer that fueled an 18-8 outburst. The Panthers hit on 7-of-10 field goal tries, while holding Jewell to just 3-of-10 shooting over the same stretch.
Thomas led the Panthers with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, combining with Hardrick to score 24 of DU's 37 second-half points. Hardrick finished with 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while Stubbs added 11 points for DU.
LOOKING AHEAD
Drury continues its current six-game home stand Thursday (Jan. 8) evening with a 7:45 p.m. GLVC contest against No. 17 Missouri S&T at O'Reilly.
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