ST. LOUIS - For the second time in three seasons, the William Jewell Cardinals are the Great Lakes Valley Conference Champions in men's basketball. Jewell defeated eight seed Drury 67-48 on Sunday to win the title and improve to 22-9 on the season, marking their most single season wins of the NCAA era.

Isaac Patterson, Justice Sutton, and Bradley Lightbourne were each named to the All-Tournament Team, the second such honor for Patterson.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The pace of the opening minutes was quick, as the teams combined for six turnovers in the early going. Lightbourne hit his second three of the day with just over seven minutes to go in the first half to give Jewell a six point lead. The Panthers cut the deficit to four late in the half but a triple from Kyle Scharbrough and floater by Patterson at the buzzer gave the Cardinals a nine point cushion at the break, 33-24.
• Jewell used a 7-3 run to open the second half and expand their lead to 13 with under 15 to go. After Drury got back within nine, the Cardinals began to separate as Scharbrough and Lightbourne hit back-to-back threes as part of 14-3 Jewell run to close the game. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Scharbrough led all scorers with 20 points while Lightbourne picked up a double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds to go with four assists. 
• Sutton added 15 points with Patterson finishing with 14. 
• The Cardinals held Drury to their lowest scoring output of the season as the Panthers to just 28% from the field and 13% (2-of-15) from three point land.
• This was the first time a top-two seed as won the title since 2018. 
   

UP NEXT
With the win, the Cardinals secure the GLVC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will learn their seed and opponent during the selection show on Sunday evening at 10 p.m.