LEBANON, Ill.— Another second-half comeback bid fell short for the Drury Panthers in an 80-70 loss on Saturday at the Harry Statham Center in Lebanon, Illinois.
Drury fell to 8-3 and 1-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference while McKendree went to 7-4 and 2-1 in the league.
The Bearcats took a ten-point lead, 30-20, with 8:04 left in the first half, then expanded it to a 23-point margin before the Panthers pulled within 16 and trailed 47-31 at halftime.
Just as they did on Thursday when the Panthers trailed by 12 at the half at Southern Indiana and tied the game in the second half, Drury rallied and threatened the home team’s lead. Drury got within three points of the lead, 68-65, on a lay-up by Conley Garrison with 4:04 left. McKendree would answer with a basket by Logan Kohrmann, however, and the Panthers were never within a possession of the lead again.
“Our theme coming back from Christmas has been that we have to be tougher and we need to compete harder,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “You can’t pick and choose the times in the game when you compete, and that’s our habit right now.”
Garrison led the Panthers with 21 points and five assists. Isaac Johnson had a season-high 18 points while Obi Okafor had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Niekie Thomas added 10 points, six assists, and five rebounds.
McKendree got 20 points each from Korhmann and Oliver Stephen.
In the first half, the Bearcats shot 63 percent from the field, hitting 19 of 30 attempts and they went 9 for 15 from three-point range. McKendree finished the game shooting 52 percent going 29 of 56 from the field while hitting 10 of their 11 free throws.
The Panthers shot 43 percent going 27 for 63 from the field and were 8 for 26 from behind the arc.
Drury returns home on Thursday to host Missouri-St. Louis for a 7:45 pm game at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
