Drury finishes season with 79-62 loss to GLVC top seed Bellarmine

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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Top seeded Bellarmine used a 16-5 run to start the second half as they pulled away from Drury for a 79-62 win over the Panthers in the quarterfinal round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament on Thursday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

The loss ends Drury’s season with an 18-10 record. The Panthers were seeded eighth in the tournament after going 10-8 during the conference regular season. Bellarmine improved to 26-3. The Knights won the GLVC East Division and the nation’s fourth ranked team in NCAA-II went 17-1 in the league. The win was Bellarmine’s thirteenth straight victory.

Drury trailed by just two points at halftime, 37-35. The Panthers used a 21-9 rebound advantage and nine first half points from Isaac Johnson to be within a basket of the lead at the intermission.

“I thought we did some nice things in the first half,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “We were out-rebounding them and we were right there, down but two at halftime. I told our guys in the locker room that Bellarmine was going to come out with renewed energy and renewed focus in the second half and we have to match that. We couldn’t quite do that. Bellarmine does such a good job with their ball movement and with their offense, if you a relax a litlle, they can get away from you.”

Bellarmine opened the second half with a basket from George Knott and got a three-pointer on next possession from Al Davis to spark their run.

Douglas Moore came off the bench to lead the Panthers with 16 points. Johnson added 10 for Drury.

Bellarmine got 24 points from Rusty Troutman. Adam Eberhard had 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Knights.

Bellarmine, who leads the nation in NCAA-II in field goal percentage (.537 entering Thursday’s game), shot 50 percent from the field hitting 24 of 48 shots while connecting on 8 of 20 three-point attempts. The Panthers shot 42 percent going 24 for 57 but were just 3 for 15 from three-point range and 11 for 19 from the free throw line.

The Knights will play in the league semifinals against the winner of fourth seeded Wisconsin-Parkside and fifth seeded Indianapolis on Saturday.

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