DES MOINES, Iowa--The Drake men's basketball team outscored visiting Eastern Michigan 42-26 in the second half on its way to a 66-53 victory Thursday night at the Knapp Center. The win improved the Bulldogs' record to 6-3 on the season and 4-0 at home.
Box Score | Updated Season Statistics
Junior forward Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) led the Bulldogs with 16 points, while junior forward Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) added a career-high 13 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Redshirt-freshman forward Jeremy Jeffers (Wilson, N.C.) scored 11 points with three assists, making his second consecutive start.
It was a tale of two halves for the Bulldogs, who trailed 27-24 at the break. Eastern Michigan's Derek Thompson hit a season-high six three pointers--four of them in the first half--for 18 points on the night. Drake struggled to gain any sort of rhythm against the Eagles and first-year coach Rob Murphy's 2-3 zone.
"It's tough to play with any sort of pace against a 2-3 zone," Drake head coach Mark Phelps said. "We wanted to get the ball into the high post area and when we got those catches I thought good things happened."
The Bulldogs came out strong in the second half, embarking on an 11-2 run in the first five minutes to take a 35-29 lead. Clarke started the scoring by converting a three-point play after a nice feed down low from sophomore guard Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill.). After an Eagles turnover, Rice proceeded to bring down the house by slamming home an alley-oop on a pass from Simons.
Drake quickly extended its lead to 42-33, outscoring Eastern Michigan 18-6 to open the half. Simons, who had just four points in the first half, hit two three-pointers in the early-going of the second half. He has scored in double-figures in all nine games this season.
"We just had to do a better job of executing our game plan," Jeffers said. "We really turned it up and executed better after halftime."
Clarke and Jeffers both had impressive games against the pesky Eagles. Clarke bolstered his career-high 13 points with two steals and two assists. Jeffers slashed the Eastern Michigan defense in the second half to open more Drake scoring opportunities.
"Jeremy is playing well," Phelps said. "He does some things for us in terms of his vision and his savvy. He really gave us a lift. He passes the ball well and he scored it tonight."
The Bulldogs shot 54 percent from the field in the second half and 45 percent on the game. Eastern Michigan shot 47 percent in the first, but cooled off in the second to just 31 percent. Darrell Lampley led all scorers with 20 points.
The Bulldogs will now have nine days off to prepare for and take final exams before they invade in-state rival Iowa on December 17. Iowa defeated the Bulldogs 59-52 at the Knapp Center last season.
Coach and players alike both feel the time off will help.
"It gives us an opportunity to work on us," Phelps said. "We've got some things we need to work on and we'll take advantage of this nine-day stretch to do just that."
"We've got to finish strong in the classroom and practice hard," Jeffers added. "We've got some time to work on this. We can get better as a team and that's what we're going to do."
