ANCHORAGE, AK. - Buoyed by a career-high 26-point effort from sophomore
Seth VanDeest
(Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) and the first collegiate double-double from
freshman
Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill./Centennial), Drake registered a 78-59 victory over
Southern Utah at the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout on Wednesday (Nov. 24).
The Bulldogs improved their ledger to 2-1 on the campaign
with the triumph, while the Thunderbirds dropped to 1-3 overall.
"I thought our guys did a good job playing at both ends of
the court," Drake head coach Mark Phelps commented.
"The first half we were very concerned with their rebounding and I
thought we corrected that somewhat, although we lost the rebounding
battle."
The two sides started out of the gates slowly before the
Bulldogs parlayed an 18-7 run stretching an 8-7 lead into a 26-14 advantage
with 8:39 left in the first half.
Fueling the surge was seven points from VanDeest and five points from
sophomore Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac).
Drake saw its shooting from the field go cold as the
Bulldogs went 6:14 without a field goal before freshman Jeremy Jeffers (Wilson, N.C./Greenfield) connected
on a three pointer with 2:25 left in the half. Despite the struggles Drake led the Thunderbirds by seven
when Jeffers nailed the three.
The two teams traded baskets to end the half as the Bulldogs
entered halftime leading 38-29.
Southern Utah remained in the game thanks largely to its rebounding as
it outmuscled Drake in the first 20 minutes, 25-11, including 11-4 on the
offensive glass.
The Thunderbird scored the first four points of the second
half before Drake went on a 7-0 run to jump to a 12-point advantage after a
jumper by VanDeest with 16:16 remaining.
Southern Utah cut the deficit on three different occasions
to seven points before the Bulldogs stretched their margin to as many as 19 en
route to the victory.
VanDeest led three Drake players in double-figures with a
career-high 26 points, while Rice and sophomore Aaron Hawley (Roger, Ark./Rogers) added 15 and
11 points, respectively. Matt
Massey paced Southern Utah with a 14-point performance.
"Seth played a terrific game and freshman Rayvonte Rice with
a double-double demonstrates why we're so excited about him," said Phelps. "We're a young team and we have to
continue to get better and this was a great next step for our basketball team."
Redshirt junior Kraidon Woods (Henryville, Pa./Pocono Mountain
East) added a spark off the bench with six points.
Rice pulled down a game- and team-best 10 rebounds, while
VanDeest just missed a double-double with seven rebounds.
Drake finished the tilt shooting 44.8 percent, while holding
Southern Utah to a .380 shooting mark.
The Thunderbirds outrebounded the Bulldogs, 39-30, but Drake earned a
19-14 difference in the final stanza.
The Bulldogs limited their turnovers to a season-low nine,
while forcing Southern Utah into 18 miscues.
Drake finished the affair draining eight three pointers.
The Bulldogs return to action on Friday (Nov. 26) with an
8:30 p.m. CT tip versus St. John's, who was a 78-73 overtime winner over Ball State.
