BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Drury Panthers suffered their first loss of the season in a 57-56 defeat at Lynn University in the Boca Raton Holiday Classic in Florida on Saturday.
Drury dropped to 9-1 as they split their two games on the weekend road trip. Lynn won their third straight game to improve to 6-4.
The Fighting Knights took a 57-56 lead with 1:35 remaining and the Panthers had four chances to move in front but came up empty on possessions that resulted in two turnovers, a missed 15-foot attempt with eight seconds left and a 30-foot shot at the buzzer from John Williams that fell short.
Drury jumped out to a 29-14 lead with 9:13 left in the first half but Lynn held the Panthers scoreless for nearly eight minutes to get back in the game. Drury still maintained a six-point lead at halftime, 31-25.
The Fighting Knights’ momentum carried over to the second half as they scored the first 11 points after halftime to go up 36-31. The five-point lead would be Lynn’s largest of the game, though, as Drury pulled even at 39-39 with 10:29 left. The game was tied three more times and had five lead changes from that point on.
“We got off to an outstanding start,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “But after were up by 15, Lynn really starting getting up in us. In the second half, there was no motion, no rhythm, no flow…we just didn’t move.
“This is good lesson for us. This is how games will be for us on the road and we’ve got to adapt and adjust.”
Douglas Moore had Drury’s first double-double of the season scoring a team-high 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Joshua Palmer added 14 points and 7 boards while Williams had 12 points.
Jamal Palmer led Lynn with 17 points.
Drury’s 56 points were a season low as was their 46 percent mark from the field (23 for 50) and their three made three-pointers (3 for 14). The Panthers still shot a higher percentage than Lynn did as the Fighting Knights were 20 for 56 for a .357 clip from the floor. Lynn went 6 for 24 from the three-point line. The Panthers committed 19 turnovers to Lynn’s 10.
The Panthers are idle until Dec. 31. Drury is at home for a New Year’s Eve game against Southwestern (Kan.) at 3 p.m. in the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
