DES MOINES, IOWA - Withstanding a hard-charging Drake second-half effort Iowa
earned a 59-52 victory in the annual men's basketball in-state battle on
Saturday (Dec. 18) at the Knapp Center before 6,671 fans.
The loss snapped the Bulldogs' two-game winning streak and
dropped Drake to 4-5 overall, while improving the Hawkeyes' ledger to 6-5 on
the year.
Iowa raced out to a 14-0 in the contest as the Bulldogs
missed their first five shots before sophomore Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac)
connected on a three pointer with 14:11 left in the half.
Over the next the 7:07 Drake's offense heated up as it went
on a 17-5 run on 6-of-10 shooting to cut the deficit to 19-17 with 7:04
remaining before halftime. Fueling
the surge was five points from senior Ryan Wedel (Minneapolis, Kan./Minneapolis) and
three from redshirt junior Kraidon Woods (Henryville, Pa./Pocono Mountain East).
Two points proved to be as close as the Bulldogs got
finishing the half as Drake entered the intermission trailing 24-19.
Shooting numbers were nearly identical for both sides in the
first 20 minutes as the Hawkeyes connected on 32 percent (8-of-25) of their
first-half shots, while the Bulldogs registered a 29.2 percent (7-of-24)
shooting mark.
Simons and Wedel led the first-half effort for Drake with
five points apiece, while Iowa got eight points from Matt Gatens.
The two sides exchanged three pointers to begin the final 20
minutes before the Bulldogs scored eight of the next 11 points to assume their
first lead of the evening, 30-28, on a triple from Wedel at the 15:28 mark.
The advantage swelled to four points, 32-28, on a jumper
from freshman Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) with 14:11 left to play.
The Hawkeyes scored the next six points in the tilt to
regain a lead they didn't relinquish.
Drake cut the margin to one point, 41-40, on a jumper from
sophomore Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) with 7:04 remaining and two points,
47-45, after a three pointer by Rice at the 5:08 mark, but weren't able to
re-establish the momentum.
The Bulldogs garnered a pair of 14-point performances from
Rice and Wedel, with junior Kurt Alexander (Toronto, Ontario) and Simons contributing six and
five points, respectively, off the bench.
Gatens posted 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second
half to lead all scorers, while Jarryd Cole pulled down a game-best 11
rebounds.
Drake finished the affair shooting 39.2 percent from the
field, while Iowa turned in a 42.2 percent shooting mark.
Rebounding went in favor of the Hawkeyes, 34-28. Iowa committed 18 turnovers and the
Bulldogs converted those miscues into 18 points.
The Hawkeyes made their mark at the free throw line where
Iowa made 17 of its 25 attempts, to only eight attempts at the charity stripe
for Drake.
The Bulldogs return to action on Tuesday (Dec. 21) hosting
Dartmouth at 7:05 p.m.
