PEORIA, ILL. - On a night when freshman
Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill./Centennial)
established a new Drake freshman scoring record, it proved to be an inspired
Bradley squad on Senior Night that was too much for the Bulldogs to overcome as
they dropped a 90-64 decision on Saturday (Feb. 26) in their regular season
finale.
Drake's record dropped to 13-17 overall and 7-11 in the
Missouri Valley Conference with the setback, while Bradley improved its ledger
to 11-19 and 4-14 in league play.
The two teams will now have five days off before meeting
again in the opening round of the State Farm MVC Tournament at 8:35 p.m. on
Thursday (March 3) at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.
Junior Kurt Alexander (Toronto, Ontario/Pine Ridge Secondary) directed the
Bulldog attack with a team- and career-high 15-point performance. Andrew Warren, one of the leading
candidates for MVC Player of the Year accolades, poured in a game- and
career-best 33 points to lead Bradley.
The Braves connected on 63.2 percent of their shots in the
game and 76.9 percent in the second half, while limiting Drake, who had posted
back-to-back 50-percent shooting marks, to a 37.1 field goal percentage.
Rice joined Alexander with a double-figure scoring effort
registering 14 points. Alexander
provided a team-high four assists in the contest, while sophomore Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) posted a seven-rebound effort.
Bradley also received double-figure scoring contests from
Dodie Dunson, Dyricus Simms-Edwards and Will Egolf, who recorded 17, 15 and 11
points, respectively.
The 90 points were the most Drake had surrendered to a
league opponent this season.
The game started on a different tone for the Bulldogs as
they took an early 6-5 advantage before the Braves executed a 10-0 run to
assume a 15-6 lead.
A jumper by sophomore Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark./Rogers) ended the run
before Bradley scored nine of the next 13 points to go ahead 24-12.
Nailing his first three pointer of the season was redshirt
sophomore Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel) before Alexander added a long
jumper to cut the deficit to 24-17.
The Braves registered nine of the game's next 11 points to
stretch the margin to 33-19 before redshirt freshman David Smith (Chicago, Ill./Lake Forest Academy)
ended the run with a jumper with 3:47 left in the half.
Smith's field goal proved to be Drake's last of the half as
the Bulldogs scored their final five points of the stanza at the free throw
line and entered the intermission trailing 39-26.
Bradley recorded a 51.6 percent shooting mark in the initial
20 minutes, while limiting Drake to 34.5 percent from the field.
Clarke paced the Bulldogs with seven first-half points. Eleven points apiece from Dunson and
Warren led the Braves.
Rice scored seven of Drake's first 10 points in the final
stanza before equaling Luke McDonald's freshman scoring record of 412 set
during the 2000-01 campaign with a layup with 9:19 left and then converting a
free throw to own the record outright.
Sparked by a career-high 11-rebound night from Warren,
Bradley collected a 36-31 rebounding advantage.
Drake now turns its attention to the MVC Tournament and a
return engagement with the Braves on Thursday (March 3).
