LIBERTY, Mo. – The Drury Panthers had a strong start building an early 12-6 lead, but William Jewell responded and handed the Panthers a 68-58 loss on Thursday night in Liberty, Missouri.
The Panthers fell to 4-8 and 1-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in only the second game since Dec. 18. Drury has had three of their last four games canceled due to issues with COVID-19. The Cardinals lifted their record to 8-6 and 4-2 in the league.
After trailing early, William Jewell went on a 12-0 run and never trailed after the 12:28 mark of the first half. The Cardinals built a 38-31 lead at halftime and held off the Panthers in the second half as Drury could only get as close as eight down the stretch.
William Jewell stymied the Panthers in the second half holding Drury to 31 percent shooting after halftime as DU went 11 for 36 from the field, and they made just 1 of their 14 three-point attempts.
Sophomore forward Riley Naeger and senior guard Victor Nwagbarachoa both had 12 points to lead the Panthers in scoring. Ryce Piper had eight rebounds for Drury.
Trey Shannon led William Jewell with a game-high 20 points, and he went 6 for 10 from three-point range. Grant Stubbs added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals.
Drury returns to action on Saturday as they take on Rockhurst at 3 pm in Kansas City, Missouri.
