Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011
ST. THOMAS, USVI--The Drake Bulldogs defeated Winthrop 66-62 Saturday at the Paradise Jam behind 23 points from sophomore Rayvonte Rice and 19 from junior Ben Simons.
BOX SCORE | UPDATED SEASON STATS
The Bulldogs (3-1) will face Virginia (3-1) Monday at 2:30 p.m. (CT) in the tournament's fourth/sixth-place game. Winthrop falls to 0-4.
Rice (Champaign, Ill.) was 9-12 from the free-throw line, all in the second half, as Drake pounded the ball inside after being forced out onto the perimeter in the first half by Winthrop's extended zone defense. Rice had seven points at halftime before becoming more aggressive with the ball in the second half.
"I thought Rayvonte Rice was terrific down the homestretch, getting to the free-throw line," said head coach Mark Phelps. "We really challenged Rayvonte to be more aggressive and to get to the free-throw line. That was a huge key to our success."
Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) helped Drake jump in front early with his hot shooting, and finished with a career-high five three-pointers after making four in each of the past two games. The Bulldogs led by as many as nine points, at 22-13 with 9:18 to play in the first half, and led 33-29 at the intermission.
Drake went on a 9-2 run to build a 49-40 lead at the 11:50 mark of the second half. Rice scored four in the run, and Simons capped it with a three-pointer. The Bulldogs led again by nine at 53-44 after two Rice free throws, but Winthrop went on a 9-2 run of its own, closing to 55-53 with 6:35 remaining.
Rice scored the next five Bulldogs points from the foul line to push Drake back out in front 60-55 at the 5:05 mark. Winthrop would not go away, and battled back to a four-point deficit, 61-57, before Simons' fifth three-pointer of the night made it 64-57 with 3:26 to play.
One final Winthrop threat at 65-62 with 59 seconds to play was thwarted when the Eagles missed two three-pointers in the final minute and Rice added a free throw for the Bulldogs.
"After last night's game our focus was finishing, and we had to do the same thing tonight," Phelps said. "We had the lead most of the game and we had to finish. It was a little shaky, but guys really did what they had to do to finish the game."
Drake was 14-20 from the free-throw line in the second half, with most of its scoring coming via that route in the final 10 minutes. The Bulldogs made just one field goal-the Simons three-pointer-after an Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark.) layup with 10:08 to play. Twelve of Drake's final 15 points came on free throws inside the 10-minute mark.
The Bulldogs outrebounded the Eagles 30-27 and shot 54 percent from the field (20-37). Continuing the spirited defensive performance that has marked Drake's play in the early-going of the season, the Bulldogs limited the Eagles to 39.2% shooting from the field (20-51).
"We're getting better on defense," Phelps said. "We still had too many fouls (20) and allowed too many drives to the basket. We'll get better at that, but we held them to 39% from the floor. We rebounded OK; gave up too many offensive rebounds, but overall won the rebounding battle."
Junior Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) grabbed six rebounds to lead Drake, and added six points. Senior Kraidon Woods (Henryville, Pa.) added four rebounds to his six points off the bench. The Bulldogs held a 14-6 advantage over the Eagles in bench points.
"Jeremy Jeffers, Kurt Alexander, Kraidon Woods and David Smith all did a terrific job coming off the bench and helping our basketball team," Phelps said. "We certainly couldn't have done it without those guys. We were able to play nine guys double-digit minutes, and everyone contributed. Their focus was good tonight. They showed resiliency, bouncing back after an incredibly tough loss last night, so I'm really proud of our guys."
