Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012

DES MOINES, Iowa--The Drake Bulldogs scored 49 second-half points to erase a one-point halftime deficit en route to an 82-74 victory over visiting Bradley on Tuesday night at the Knapp Center.

Junior Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) scored 18 of his team-high 21 points in the second half to lead the Bulldogs' surge. Senior Kraidon Woods (Henryville, Pa.) played a career-high 32 minutes off the bench in place of the injured Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds.

Box Score | Updated Season Statistics

Drake improved to 9-7 on the season, 2-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Bradley fell to 5-12, 0-5 in the MVC. The Bulldogs halted a three-game losing streak and improved to 8-1 on Ron Pearson Court at the Knapp Center this season.

Simons tallied 16 points in the game's final seven-and-a-half minutes, as he caught fire and shot 4-for-4 from the field, including two three-pointers that helped seal the win down the stretch.

"It was a total team effort," said head coach Mark Phelps. "I thought we played much better offensively in the second half, shooting 52 percent. A big key for us when we were making that run was that Rayvonte (Rice) did a great job finding Ben in transition over there on the right side for a big 3 that put us up 10 and caused a timeout for them, and we really had the momentum at that point."

Drake scored the first three points of the second half to take a 36-34 lead before Bradley put together a 12-0 run to take a 46-36 lead with 14:44 to play.

The Bulldogs responded with a 9-0 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to pull within one point, at 46-45. The last two points came on a thunderous dunk by Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill.) after he stole the ball near midcourt.

Drake went on an 8-0 run several minutes later, fueled by two Simons three-pointers and a jumper by Jeremy Jeffers (Wilson, N.C.), to take a 63-53 lead with 5:07 to play. Overall, the Bulldogs outscored Bradley 31-10 over a 10-minute stretch of the second half, and led 67-56 with 4:09 to play.

Bradley, however, battled back, rattling off seven consecutive points in 1:02 of clock time to close the gap to 67-63 with 3:07 remaining.

The Bulldogs answered that run with a three-point play by Kurt Alexander (Toronto, Ontario), who finished with a career-high 17 points off the bench. Bradley whittled the lead back down to four, at 70-66, with three free throws.

From that point Drake's sharp shooting from the free-throw line was the key to sealing the victory. The Bulldogs converted 12-of-14 free-throw attempts in the game's final 55 seconds, including 6-for-6 by Simons.

"I was proud of the way we dug ourselves out of a hole in the first half and then more importantly the hole in the second half when we got down 10," said Phelps. "I thought we started to guard, finally, in that stretch in the second half and I think that was the key."

Rice, despite struggling from the field (3-for-14), finished with 19 points, including 13 from the charity stripe in 18 attempts, both career highs. He added eight rebounds, three steals and one assist.

Woods nearly compiled a double-double in the first half, scoring nine points and pulling down nine rebounds by the break. He shared the halftime scoring lead with Alexander, and while he did not score in the second half, his five rebounds were key to the Bulldogs' comeback.

Drake dug a deep hole in the game's first six minutes, missing its first 10 shots from the floor to fall behind 10-0. The Bulldogs then made five of their next six shots and outscored Bradley 18-5 over the next four minutes to take an 18-15 lead that gave way to a back-and-forth remainder of the first half.

The Bulldogs shot 39 percent from the field, aided by a 52.2-percent second-half performance (12-23), after shooting just 30 percent in the first half (11-36). Bradley shot 47.8 percent for the game (11-26), including a 55-percent output in the first half.

Drake committed a season-low seven turnovers, while forcing Bradley into 15. Taylor Brown scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Braves.

Next up for the Bulldogs is a trip to Evansville on Friday to take on the Purple Aces. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

NOTES:
Rayvonte Rice, with a career-high free-throw shooting effort (13-18), has made 22-of-30 free-throw attempts in the past two games...Kurt Alexander's 17 points topped his previous career high of 13 vs. Missouri State (1/25/11)...Kraidon Woods had a career-high 14 rebounds, edging his previous high of 13 in his last outing vs. Bradley, March 3, 2011 in the State Farm MVC Tournament in St. Louis...Woods' 14 rebounds are the most by a Bulldog since Adam Templeton pulled down 16 in a win over South Dakota on Dec. 11, 2009...Ben Simons tonight played all 40 minutes for the second time this season (Eastern Mich., 12/8/11)...Jordan Clarke started and played just two minutes before being forced to the bench because of an ankle injury suffered against Northern Iowa on Saturday...Drake's 28 free throws and 40 free-throw attempts are both season highs, and the most by a Bulldogs team since making 31-of-41 vs. Southern Illinois Feb. 16, 2010...this was Drake's third time scoring more than 80 points this season, already one fewer than last season's total...Drake outscored Bradley in bench points 45-10...Drake scored 49 points in a half (2nd) for the second time this season, again tying for the 10th-most points in a half in school history; Drake scored 49 in the first half against Central Arkansas Dec. 21...Head Coach Mark Phelps announced in his postgame press conference that junior center Seth VanDeest (shoulder) and junior forward Reece Uhlenhopp (foot) will redshirt this season because of injury. VanDeest has not played this season, while Uhlenhopp played just one minute versus Indiana State on Dec. 28.