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SPRINGFIELD – A late surge by the Drury Panthers pushed open a nine-point lead to a 21-point win, 82-61, over Illinois-Springfield on Senior Day and Homecoming at the O’Reilly Family Event Center on Saturday.
Drury improved to 15-8 and 8-7 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference while Illinois-Springfield dropped to 8-16 and 3-12.
The Panthers jumped out to a 17-2 lead six minutes into the game and held a 33-20 lead at halftime. The Prairie Stars pulled within nine, 58-49, with 8:26 remaining. Drury closed the game out by outscoring Illinois-Springfield 24-12 the rest of the way.
“Senior Day is always a special day and we felt we needed to send Josh Palmer out the right way and I think we did,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “I was really proud of the way our guys responded when our lead was cut to nine. (UIS) was on a roll and we were kind of flat. I told our guys in a timeout that we needed to make a statement. In past games, when we’ve gone flat, we haven’t been able to get out of it but today we did.”
Freshman Isaac Johnson led Drury with 20 points. The Springfield-Kickapoo product went 6 for 11 from the floor and was 3 for 6 from three-point range. Douglas Moore added 14 points off the bench.
Paxton Harmon had 20 points to lead the Prairie Stars.
Drury shot 55 percent from the field connecting on 32 of 58 shots and went 8 for 17 from three-point range. UIS shot just 36 percent (20 for 55) and were held to 6 for 29 shooting from behind the arc.
The Panthers head to St. Louis for their next two games. Drury is at Maryville on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff and the Panthers play at Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday at 3 p.m.
