DES MOINES, Iowa--The Drake Bulldogs thrilled the Knapp Center crowd of 5,665 Tuesday night with a 74-65 victory over in-state rival Iowa State. The Bulldogs improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2005-06 with hot second-half shooting and stingy defense.
Junior Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) led all scorers with 24 points, tying his career high set in 2009-10 against the Cyclones, also at the Knapp Center.
The emotional win was the first for Drake over Iowa State in three seasons, since a 66-63 victory in Ames in head coach Mark Phelps' inaugural campaign of 2008-2009. Phelps was impressed with the character the Bulldogs showed in an intense rivalry game.
"I thought the first key was to get off to a good start and I think we did that," Phelps said. "When we needed grit and toughness, we had it. When we needed poise and composure, we had it as well."
Sophomore Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill.) contributed 18 points in his first action of the season, including 11 in the second half, despite sitting for six minutes with three fouls.
Returning to the game with just over 12 minutes to play, Rice took over at both ends of the court. With his team trailing 49-47 at the 10:13 mark of the second half, Rice rebounded a Cyclones miss and began a run of seven straight points that gave Drake a lead it would never relinquish.
After a layup off an assist from Simons, Rice delivered a three-point play on a powerful drive to the hoop, and added two free throws at the 7:47 mark.
The Bulldogs shot 50 percent (28-56) from the field for the game, including a 59.3 percent clip in the second half (16-27).
Iowa State's Royce White contributed his second double-double in as many games with 21 points and 14 rebounds in the Cyclones' losing effort.
The Bulldogs started out strong, erasing memories of a 91-43 loss to the Cyclones in Ames a year ago. The teams traded baskets in the early going, and a Rice lay-in with 10 minutes to play put the home team up for the remainder of the half with the lead topping off at five.
Drake extended its lead to seven early in the second half thanks to solid defense by junior Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) and a three-pointer by Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark.). Clarke played through adversity, battling foul trouble and the skill and physicality of White, and was able to collect eight important rebounds, two steals and three assists to go along with six points.
"We feel like Jordan is our best overall defender," Phelps said. "They put five guys on the floor, all of whom can score double digits, (and) who can have huge, huge scoring nights."
Hot three-point shooting by Chris Babb and quality inside scoring by White brought Iowa State back into the aforementioned lead of 49-47, Iowa State's first since the 12-minute mark of the first half.
Ignited by the play of Rice and Simons, the Bulldogs surge turned into a 15-5 run in an eight-minute span to lead 62-54 with three minutes to play.
Senior Kurt Alexander (Toronto, Ontario), who contributed 10 points and four assists, had the play of the game by driving through a crowded lane of Cyclones, being hit and somehow laying the ball in with English off the glass to the roar of the crowd.
The game looked sealed after the play but costly turnovers piled up for the Bulldogs and a three-pointer by Babb closed the deficit to 66-63 with 1:19 to play.
Redshirt-freshman point guard Karl Madison (Springfield, Ill.), who was able to penetrate against much bigger Iowa State guards all night, snuck into the lane yet again and dished to Simons, who laid the ball in to give the Bulldogs a five-point lead with 38 seconds to play.
Out of timeouts, Babb missed a three-point attempt and the long rebound went to Simons, who nailed two free throws as the Cyclones' faithful began to head toward the exits.
Ecstatic about the win, Phelps gave some credit to his point guard Madison.
"You look at the job that Karl did in really his first high-level college basketball game," Phelps said. "You forget he's a freshman. I thought he was really poised. He had five assists for our team and really handled himself in a big-time way. I thought he was really key for our team."
Drake will leave tomorrow to travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands where they will compete in the Paradise Jam. The Bulldogs' first game in the tournament will be against Southeastern Conference power Mississippi Friday at 2:30 p.m. (CST).
