Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011
DES MOINES, Iowa--Redshirt-freshman Karl Madison scored a career-high 24 points and sophomore Rayvonte Rice added 22 points to lead Drake to a 79-64 win over defending Missouri Valley Conference tournament champion Indiana State Wednesday at the Knapp Center on the opening night of league play.
Box Score | Updated Season Statistics
The Bulldogs, who improved to 8-4 overall, won their 11th game in a row at home dating back to last season, and begin their conference schedule 1-0 for the second year in a row and fourth time in the last five years. It was the most points allowed this season by the Sycamores, who fell to 9-3 on the season, 0-1 in the MVC.
"We continued to answer," said head coach Mark Phelps. "We got off to a great start and (Indiana State) responded like we expected they would, as defending league champions. Our guys continued to respond and make right plays at both ends. There were key defensive stops and there were key offensive conversions."
Madison (Springfield, Ill.) nearly doubled his previous career high of 13. He shot 9-9 from the field, including 1-1 from three-point range, and was 5-6 from the free-throw line. The point guard added three assists and four rebounds in a career-high 34 minutes of playing time.
"I can't say enough about Karl Madison," said Phelps. "He was absolutely terrific. He played with great composure tonight. Think about his first game in the Valley as a freshman, what he did tonight. He made key baskets at key times when we really didn't have anything going at the offensive end. He was able to knock down a perimeter jump shot or get to the rim."
Rice (Champaign, Ill.) scored more than 20 points for the third game in a row and added eight rebounds, four steals and an assist. He shot 8-17 from the field and was 6-7 from the free-throw line.
"He just continues to do what we ask him to do," Phelps said, "and that's to take advantage of what he can do in the paint. He can drive it and he can post up and cause mismatches. He's just getting better all the time and maturing as a player. He had 17 shots tonight and only one three (-pointer). That's just a guy who understands how he can help our team and a guy that's committed to doing that."
Rice is the first Bulldog to score 20 or more points in three consecutive games since Josh Young topped the 20-point mark in four straight games in December of 2008.
The 6-foot, 4-inch sophomore scored 9 of Drake's first 18 points as Drake built an 18-2 lead over Indiana State by the 14:42 mark of the first half, hitting 6 of its first seven shots. It was the most commanding early lead by a Bulldogs team since Feb. 8, 2008 when Drake put a similar 16-2 start on Evansville at the Knapp Center en route to a 73-65 win.
The Sycamores, however, fought back with a 6-0 run and then a 10-3 run to close the gap to six points at 24-18. The lead was down to one point, at 32-31, late in the first half before a Rice dunk and a Madison free throw gave the Bulldogs a 35-31 lead at intermission.
Indiana State scored the first points of the second half before Drake put together a 9-2 run to build a nine-point lead and begin to take control of a game in which it never trailed.
"That was a big key to the game," Phelps said of his team's early-second-half surge. "When you overcome a deficit like (Indiana State did) your confidence goes up, and it can cause a little doubt on our team. But I thought our guys did a terrific job out of the halftime huddle, and came out in attack mode, and we shot the ball really well in the second half."
The Bulldogs shot 70.8 percent after intermission (17-24) and finished the game at 56.4 percent (31-55), their second best figure of the season, and second consecutive game above 52 percent.
Junior Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) added 15 points, including 10 in the second half, and was 3-6 from three-point range. It was his seventh game this season with at least three triples.
Redshirt-freshman Jeremy Jeffers (Wilson, N.C.) had his second-highest scoring output of the season with 14 points to give Drake four players in double figures. Oddly, all of Drake's 79 points came from the starting five, as junior Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) contributed four points and a game-high 12 rebounds to help the Bulldogs outrebound the Sycamores 37-32. Indiana State had 38 bench points to Drake's 0.
Drake's hot shooting and the aggressive drives of Madison and Rice helped the Bulldogs push their lead to as many as 22 in the second half before settling for the 15-point win. The Bulldogs are now 3-1 in MVC openers under head coach Mark Phelps, and have won four of their last five league-opening games, and two in a row. The Bulldogs topped Southern Illinois 69-55 in last year's MVC opener on Dec. 29, 2010. The team's all-time mark in such games is now 38-60 (22-28 at home, 16-32 on the road).
Indiana State shot just 39 percent from the field (23-59), including a 33.3 percent mark in the second half (10-30). The Sycamore shot 4-18 from three-point range, while the Bulldogs were 6-10.
The Bulldogs, now 7-0 at home this season, take to the road Saturday to face a Missouri State team that is coming off a 77-65 defeat of No. 19 Creighton on the Blue Jays' home floor in Omaha tonight. The 8-5 Bears are the defending regular season MVC champion, and feature reigning MVC Player of the Year Kyle Weems, who scored 31 points in the win.
Tipoff in Springfield, Mo., is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. The broadcast can be heard on KRNT 1350 AM.
