Dennon Mitchell added 18 points, including five points around the 5-minute mark late to give the Panthers some breathing room, Chris Parks added 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds and JaJuan Maxwell added 13 points in 14 minutes for Drury (6-1, 2-0 in the GLVC).
Drury led 40-31 at halftime after hitting 58 percent of its shots (15 of 26) over the first half, but watched the Pumas cut it to one (46-45) with 15:01 left in the game on a 3-pointer by Dayvon Sloan.
But the Panthers put together a 14-4 run over the next six minutes, including 10 points from Hall, to regain some cushion.
It was a 68-61 Drury lead with five minutes remaining when Mitchell bombed in a 3-pointer and followed it up with a 15-foot jumper to make it 73-61 and send the Panthers on their way.
"The important thing is we protected home court," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "I really was not pleased with how we played. i thought we were struggling to get energy, and that's where toughness comes in, and the ability to reach down and do the things you need to do when you maybe don't have the same energy level you had on Thursday.
"We finally got a little energy late, got some good shots, had a great ball-reversal and Dennon made a three, got some steals and deflections and were able to get a victory."
Sloan had 24 points and Marcus Jackson added 13 points and 15 rebounds for the Pumas (2-4, 1-1).
The Panthers finished at 49 percent from the field (25 of 51), while limiting the Pumas to 42 percent (25 of 60). Drury was 9 of 18 from 3-point range and limited SJC to 6 of 21 shooting (29 percent) from behind the arc.
Drury had just 14 turnovers while forcing 17 miscues by St. Joseph's.
Drury is back in action on Wednesday, playing host to Webster in a 7 p.m. non-conference game at the O'Reilly Center.
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