SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– The Drury Panthers were unable to overcome a sluggish offensive start and had no answers for a strong inside-outside punch from Southern Indiana as they fell to the Screaming Eagles 81-63 at the O’Reilly Family Event Center on Thursday night.
The Panthers saw the visitors explode early and were quickly behind by double-figures just a few minutes into the game and couldn’t find a solution as the Screaming Eagles were ahead by as many as 23 points in the first half, before carrying a 36-17 advantage into intermission.
Southern got a dominating inside game from Jacob Polakovich, who finished with 26 points on 13 of 17 shooting from the floor and Jelani Simmons who added 22, many from long range.
Even a strong second-half run that pulled the Panthers to within eleven at 50-39 with 12 minutes remaining wasn’t enough as the Screaming Eagles were red hot, hitting 71 percent of their shots from the field over the final 20 minutes.
Junior Malek Davis topped the Drury scoring, pouring in 20 points. Seniors Obi Okafor and Victor Nwagbarachoa had 12 points each, while sophomore Riley Naeger added 10.
Southern Indiana controlled the boards as well, outrebounding Drury 41-25, with Polakovich grabbing a game-best 13.
The Panthers dropped to 7-12 overall and to 4-7 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play with the loss. The Screaming Eagles improved to 14-5 and 9-4 in league action.
The Panthers are back in action Saturday, February 12th, when they host McKendree in a 3 pm meeting at the O’Reilly Family Event Center during Homecoming weekend activities.
