QUINCY, Ill. – Quincy held off Drury and pulled away late for a 78-64 win over the Panthers on Saturday at Pepsi Arena in Quincy, Illinois.
The Hawks improved to 18-4 and 8-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Drury dropped to 13-6 and 6-5 in the league.
Drury trailed 37-33 at halftime and was down five, 63-58, with five minutes remaining. Quincy hit free throws in the closing minutes and pulled away outscoring the Panthers 15-6 down the stretch.
“I was very proud of the way we played the first 20 minutes,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “We had some old habits creep in to start the second half and we used a time-out early in the half to get our defensive intensity back. Where the game got away from us was when we got the basket and didn’t finish and then we turned it over.”
Joshua Palmer led Drury with 18 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field. Isaac Johnson and John Williams both added 11 points for the Panthers.
Joseph Tagarelli led Quincy with a game-high 27 points.
Quincy shot 51 percent from the field hitting 27 of 52 shots. Drury went 20 for 44 to shoot 45 percent. The Panthers had 17 turnovers and were out-rebounded 32-25.
Drury’s is on the road again next week. The Panthers are at 10th ranked Bellarmine on Thursday. Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m. (central) in Louisville, Kentucky.
