Kameron Bundy scored 20 points to lead three Panthers in double-figures and Drury jumped on Lewis from the opening tip to roll to a 71-54 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over the Flyers on Thursday night at Neil Carey Arena.
Drury improved to 8-4 overall and 3-1 in the GLVC – all on the road in the league – with its third straight victory, while Lewis fell to 9-4 and 1-2.
The Panthers rolled to a 17-2 lead in the game's first 10 minutes in charging out to a 40-23 lead by the half in arguably DU's best-played half of the season. The Panthers forced 14 Flyer turnovers and held Lewis to 35-percent shooting (8 of 23) from the field, including 3 of 11 from 3-point range.
Max Strus, the GLVC's leading scorer at just under 24 points per game coming into the contest, had two points in the first half. Kyle Nelson, the Flyers' second leading scorer at 11 points per game, was held scoreless.
"One of the things we've been trying to build upon and emphasize since we've come back from the (holiday) break is to get out and be more aggressive defensively," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "I think we saw that last Saturday (vs Central Christian). We usually average like 10-plus steals per game, and we're like at the bottom of the conference coming into tonight's game. I take responsibility for that, trying to teach a bunch of new guys other things, and I erred in my approach.
"We had a bunch of deflections in the first half – (Grant) Boswell led us with seven for the game – and we had several guys do it."
Lewis cut the DU lead to 12 early in the second half, but could get no closer once Bundy heated up, making three 3-pointers in a DU spurt to put the game back out of reach.
Tevin Foster and Josh Palmer finished with 14 points each, and Palmer added seven rebounds to lead DU on the boards. It was also Palmer's fifth consecutive game scoring in double-figures.
'"We're being more collective," Hesser said. "Jamal (Cummings) and Dougie (Moore) gave us some good minutes off the bench as well. It's a good win for us, because last year we came up here and got embarrassed (a 76-52 loss). It's a good Lewis program and Coach (Scott) Trost is a very good coach, and I'm just happy that our guys came ready to play."
Delaney Blaylock had 17 points to lead the Flyers, while Strus finished with just nine points (on 3-of-12 shooting) and nine rebounds and had six of Lewis' 20 turnovers.
The Panthers will look to continue their recent surge on Saturday, when they visit Wisconsin-Parkside in a 7 p.m. GLVC tipoff that will be televised nationally on the American Sports Network (ASN) and will be shown locally in the Springfield market on KOZL.
"You've got to keep doing it," Hesser said. "Don't celebrate in-season successes, and use your in-season successes to give you confidence to get in the gym more and motivate you to work, watch film and continue to improve. I hope that's what this bunch does."
