SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Lewis Flyers climbed back to .500 with a 72-53 win at Drury on Thursday evening. With the win head coach Scott Trost ties Gordie Gillespie for the most wins in school history.

The Panthers (18-5, 11-4 GLVC) entered the game averaging 89 points per game but the Flyer (13-13, 8-8 GLVC) defense held them to a season-low 53 points. Drury also entered the game as the second best three-point shooting team in the country but was held to just 9-of-30 (30 percent) from beyond the arc.

Lewis got off to a slow start on missing 10 of its first 12 shots and were down 17-8 with 12:30 left in the opening. Cristen Wilson (Cleveland, Ohio/John Hay) sparked the Flyers scoring five straight points to cut the deficit to 17-13 just two minutes later.

Drury pushed the lead back to seven on Conley Garrison's second three of the half but Lewis responded with a 16-4 over the next seven and a half minutes to take its largest lead of the game at 31-26 after a three-pointer from Wilson.

John Williams answered Wilson's three with a three of his own from the right corner with 1:00 to play in the half. After a turnover, Donovan Oliver (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) rebounded a Wilson miss and put it in right before the buzzer to give the Flyers a 33-29 lead at the break.

Lewis made 10 of its last 19 shots in the half to finish at 39 percent (12-for-31) shooting from the floor in the half. It was 5-of-12 from three and shot 57 percent at the foul line.
Wilson led all scorers with 13 points while Adam Pischke (Cary, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) had five.

The Panthers shot 48 percent (11-for-23) from the field in the half, was 4-of-11 from three but shot only 43 percent at the foul line. Garrison and Julius Walker had six points each to lead Drury.

The two sides traded baskets for the first six-plus minutes of the second half but the Flyers never relinquished the lead. Four straight three's in a two-minute span by Lewis allowed it to extend its lead to 52-39 near the halfway point of the second half.

Isaac Johnson cut the Flyer lead to 52-42 with a three with 9:28 left but Lewis answered by scoring five of the next six points to extend the lead to 14 on a layup by Nick Norton (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North). Drury would cut the lead to 11 on another three from Johnson but from that point it was all Flyers as they held to Panthers to just five points the rest of the way.

Lewis finished the game shooting 46 percent (26-for-57) from the floor, was 10-of-22 from three and shot 63 percent at the foul line. The Flyers outrebounded the Panthers 41-to-36 and turned 13 Drury turnovers into 12 points. Wilson finished with a game-high 21 points while Pischke added 13 and Jake Reinhart (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) finished with 10 off the bench.

The Panthers were held to just 8-of-34 shooting in the second half, including 5-of-19 from three. Drury shot only 43 percent at the foul line. Garrison led the Panthers with 12 points while Walker added 11 and Johnson finished with 10.

Lewis looks to move over the .500 mark on Saturday when it travels to Rolla to take on Missouri S&T in a 3 p.m. contest.