DES MOINES, IOWA - Senior Ryan Wedel (Minneapolis, Kan./Minneapolis) turned in his finest masterpiece of his brilliant Drake career on Wednesday (Feb. 23) scoring a career-best 29 points to lift the Bulldogs to an 87-69 victory over Evansville on Senior Night at the Knapp Center.

The triumph extended Drake's homecourt winning streak to four straight games and allowed the Bulldogs to improve their ledger to 13-16 overall and 7-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference.  The setback evened the Purple Aces' record at 14-14 on the year, including 8-9 in league play.

Honored before the game for his contributions to the Drake program over the last three seasons, Wedel put on one final show for the Bulldog faithful, connecting on 9-of-16 shots, including five three pointers for 29 points. 

After having his initial three pointer of the game blocked, Wedel hit four straight, including a fall-away shot as the shot clocked expired from well beyond the three-point arc.

"I was just going into the game looking to have a lot of fun and my teammates got me open early," Wedel explained. "The hoop seemed to be just bigger and I just rode it from there."

"For the last three years he's been a cornerstone in the foundation of what we've been trying to build here and I think he'll always be remembered that way," Drake head coach Mark Phelps commented.  "It's really nice and special for a guy to come out on Senior Night when so much is expected of him and play so well. A lot of credit goes to him for being able to deal with those type of expectations and coming through with probably his best game of the season."

Evansville scored the contest's first four points before the Bulldogs came alive outscoring the Purple Aces over the next 4:29, 19-3.  Wedel netted 12 points in the run, while freshman Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) chipped in five.

The advantage swelled to as many as 18 points in Drake's favor on the strength of a 58.6 percent shooting mark in the first 20 minutes.  Evansville shot 45.5 percent itself in the initial stanza, but couldn't overcome eight first-half triples by the Bulldogs, the sixth-best three-point shooting half in school history.

Drake kept firing in the final stanza as the lead grew to as many as 25 points before the Bulldogs secured the No. 7 seed at next week's State Farm MVC Tournament with an 87-69 triumph.

Wedel led three Drake players in double figures with a 29-point effort.  Joining him with 11- and 10-point contests were Rice and redshirt sophomore Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel).  The Bulldogs also received nine and eight points off the bench from redshirt junior Kraidon Woods (Henryville, Pa./Pocono Mountain East) and junior Kurt Alexander (Pine Ridge Secondary).

The Purple Aces were sparked by 24-, 13- and 11-point performances from Colt Ryan, Denver Holmes and Kenneth Harris, respectively.

Drake concluded the affair recording a 56.6 percent shooting mark, while Evansville stroked the nets at a 49.0 percent clip.

"Our goal as a team recently has been to really try to focus on simple things and make improvements across the board," said Phelps.  "Guys are completely buying in. Certainly they're feeling more confident with every game and every practice. It's really that simple - we just want to play better defense, rebound better, share the ball better, make better decisions on offense and certainly, Ryan (Wedel) has been a huge catalyst there."

The Bulldogs owned a decided 31-20 advantage on the boards, including 23-16 on the defensive glass.  Drake garnered eight and seven rebounds in the tilt from sophomore Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) and Clarke.

VanDeest played a huge role in the Bulldogs' triumph distributing a career- and team-high five assists.

Wedel's 29-point effort brought him to within one point of reaching the 1,500-point plateau for his career, including 692 of those tallies in a Drake uniform.

His efforts and leadership were not lost on his head coach.

"He's the same guy every single day," Phelps explained.  "He had some extra inspiration tonight and was the example. He's a great leader. We needed energy from him and he gave it to us.  We're getting better as a team, but certainly Ryan sets the tone for our basketball team."

Wedel took senior night and all the festivities that go around it in stride en route to his effort.

"It didn't really set in until I walked out at midcourt," Wedel talked about the emotions of Senior Night.  "The crowd was cheering. I can't thank them enough for all the support of the past two years.  That's when it really set in. I was smiling the whole time in warm-ups and then it really set in and I was like, "You know what, it's time to go out with a bang" and that's what I did."

Drake will close out its regular season at Bradley on Saturday (Feb. 26) with a 7:05 p.m. game.

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