SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Panthers improved to 7-0 on the season with a 77-55 win Saturday night over the Central Christian Tigers at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
The Panthers used solid, balanced offense in the second half to hold off any idea the Tigers had of pulling an upset. Drury placed three players in double figures, paced by 15 from junior Cal Harley, but it was the overall complete-game effort from junior Conley Garrison that triggered the outcome.
Garrison finished with an impressive stat line that included seven points, nine rebounds, nine assists, and four steals, as Drury pulled away from a one-point lead midway through the second half to coast home and remain unbeaten.
“If I had twelve guys like him that competed like he does, we wouldn’t lose very often,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “He’s just a dogged competitor and will do well at whatever he chooses to do in life.”
After the Tigers jumped to a quick 6-2 lead to open the game, Drury put together a 15-0 scoring run and would lead by as many as fifteen points before a late scoring surge by the Tigers left the Panthers in front 35-31 at halftime.
Drury turned up the defensive pressure after intermission and forced Central Christian into 15 second-half turnovers and a total of 25 for the game, which the Panthers turned into 28 points and allowed them to pull away and secure the win.
“We struggled for energy early, and Central Christian was really scrappy,” said Hesser. “We didn’t do a good job of guarding in the first half, but we kind of got going, got control, and we went to the press, and that started things going our direction.”
The Panthers got additional scoring from junior Obi Okafor, who had 12, with freshman Malek Davis finishing the night with 11.
Isaiah Rivera had 16 points for the Tigers, who dropped to 7-4 on the season with the loss.
Drury shot 44 percent from the field on 28 of 63 attempts, while holding the Tigers to 38 percent for the game on 21 of 56 shots. The Tigers did win the rebounding battle, pulling down 42 boards to 36 for the Panthers.
The Panthers return to action on Saturday, December 21st, when they face Rollins in the opening round of the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic in Nevada.
