SPRINGFIELD, MO. - An 11:52 second-half stretch between field goals proved too
much for Drake to overcome as Missouri State registered a come-from-behind
60-51 victory on Tuesday (Feb. 15).
The loss dips the Bulldogs' ledger to 11-16 on the year,
including 6-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while pushing the
league-leading Bears to 21-6 overall and 13-3 in conference play.
Freshman Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) led all scorers with a
19-point, nine-rebound performance to just miss his second career
double-double. Drake also garnered
a pair of eight-point efforts from redshirt sophomore Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md./Our Lady of Good
Counsel) and sophomore Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf).
An 11-point, 11-rebound outing from Kyle Weems paced four
Missouri State players scoring in double figures.
The Bulldogs finished the affair shooting 34.7 percent,
while the Bears connected at a 41.2 percent clip. Missouri State posted a 36-31 advantage in rebounding.
The initial 20 minutes proved to be a back-and-forth affair
featuring five ties and seven lead changes.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-5 advantage on the strength
of a pair of baskets from Clarke before the Bears used an 11-2 run of their own
to take the lead 16-11.
Drake had a salvo of its own as the Bulldogs scored seven
unanswered tallies to assume an 18-16 lead following a triple by sophomore Ben Simons (Cadillac,
Mich./Cadillac).
The game then saw five more lead changes before a steal with
less than four seconds remaining in the half led to a three pointer at the
buzzer by senior Ryan Wedel (Minneapolis, Kan./Minneapolis) sent the game into the
intermission all square at 24.
Drake connected on 40.9 percent of its shots in the first
half, while limiting Missouri State to a 33.3 percent shooting mark.
Rice and Wedel paced the Bulldogs with eight- and six-point
efforts in the initial stanza.
Will Creekmore and Caleb Patterson each had six points for the Bears.
Missouri State began the final 20 minutes scoring seven of the
first 11 points to regain the advantage, 31-28.
Drake fired back with its own 8-0 jaunt fueled by four
points from VanDeest to assume a 36-31 lead.
The Bears followed with eight unanswered points as part of a
15-2 run to erase the deficit and assume a 46-38 margin, one they didn't
relinquish.
Compounding the issue was an 11:52 stretch between field
goals for the Bulldogs as Missouri State changed a 38-37 deficit into what
proved to be a 60-51 victory.
Drake returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 19) as the
Bulldogs step out of conference to host Detroit as part of the Sears
BracketBusters series. Game time
at the Knapp Center is slated for 7:05 p.m.
