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Evansville Rebounds Over Drake, 67-51

Men's Basketball Drake Athletics

Evansville Rebounds Over Drake, 67-51

EVANSVILLE, IND. - Drake's struggles rebounding the ball have been noted all season and they again were problematic as Evansville parlayed a 40-31 rebounding advantage into a 67-51 victory on Wednesday (Jan. 12).

The Purple Aces used those rebounds to outscore the Bulldogs, 38-18, in the paint, en route to evening their ledger at 8-8 overall and 2-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Drake saw its record fall to 7-10 and 2-4 in league action.

It was a back-and-forth affair early in the contest as Evansville held a slim 12-11 lead after freshman Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) connected on a three pointer with 10:59 left in the half.

The Purple Aces though went on a 15-2 run to stretch the margin to 27-13, before sophomore Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) hit a pair of free throws at the 4:17 mark to make it 27-15.

The Bulldogs regained the momentum with a run of their own scoring seven of the next nine points to cut the deficit to 29-24, with 1:34 left before halftime.

Evansville closed the stanza on a 6-0 run to secure a 35-24 halftime lead.

Rice paced Drake with a seven-point, first-half effort, while 11 points from Ned Cox led the Purple Aces.

The Bulldogs connected on 34.8 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes, while Evansville registered a 51.9 percent shooting mark.

Drake whittled into the Purple Aces' lead in the second half, cutting the margin to 44-40, with 12:49 left, but couldn't get the defensive stop when it needed them most. Evansville scored 14 of the next 19 points to assume a 61-45 lead with 7:30 remaining and didn't look back en route to posting the victory.

An 11-point performance from sophomore Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) highlighted the Bulldogs' effort, while VanDeest contributed 10 points.  Rice finished with an eight-point, seven-rebound outing and sophomore Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark./Rogers) chipped in seven points off the bench.

Cox led four Purple Aces in double figures with a game-high 15 points, while Pieter van Tongeren, Colt Ryan and Clint Hopf recorded 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Falling a point shy of a double-double for Evansville was Kenneth Harris with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

The Purple Aces registered a 45.6 percent shooting mark, while the Bulldogs connected at a 34.0 percent clip.

Drake returns to action on Saturday (Jan. 15) hosting Wichita State at 7:06 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Rayvonte Rice

#24 Rayvonte Rice

G
6' 4"
Sophomore
Ben Simons

#34 Ben Simons

F
6' 8"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Rayvonte Rice

#24 Rayvonte Rice

6' 4"
Sophomore
G
Ben Simons

#34 Ben Simons

6' 8"
Junior
F