QUINCY, Ill. – Drury used a 14-2 run midway through the first half to take a double-digit lead at Quincy on their way to an 87-72 win over the Hawks on Thursday night at Pepsi Arena in Quincy, Illinois.
The Panthers improved to 6-2 and 2-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Quincy, the defending GLVC West Division champions, dropped to 1-7 and 0-3 in the league.
Drury and Quincy were tied at 17-17 midway through the first half when the Panthers went on a 14-2 burst capped by a Julius Walker lay-up that put the Panthers ahead 31-19 with 7:52 left before the intermission. Drury went on to take a 46-34 lead at the half.
Allen Billinger came off of the bench to lead the Panthers with a season-high 16 points. The junior from Carbondale, Illinois went 6 for 9 from the field and 4 for 6 from behind the three-point arc.
“We did some good things,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “Billinger gave us some points off of the bench and we had several guys make some key plays down the stretch. It was a good team win.”
Drury committed just four turnovers in the game and shot 43 percent from the field while going 10 for 25 from three-point range.
Isaac Johnson added 13 points for the Panthers while Kamau Kinder and Julius Walker both had 11.
Drury led by as much as 20 points in the second half.
Demetrius Houston had a game-high 19 points to lead Quincy and Hawks forward Marcus Hinton had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Drury is back at home on Saturday when they host Lyon (Ark.). Tipoff is at 3:15 p.m. at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
