Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
DES MOINES, Iowa--The Drake Bulldogs battled No. 14/15 Creighton to the final minute Wednesday night before falling 77-69 in front of a season-best crowd of 6,110 at the Knapp Center. Sophomore Rayvonte Rice led three Bulldogs in double figures with 23 points and a career high 11 rebounds to record his second career double-double.
Box Score | Updated Season Statistics
Junior Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) added 18 points and Senior Kurt Alexander (Toronto, Ontario) continued to make an impact off of the bench with 16 points.
With the loss the Bulldogs fall to 12-9, and remain in third place in the Missouri Valley Conference at 5-5. Creighton improves to 19-2, 9-1 and tied for first place in the MVC.
"Give credit to Creighton," said Drake head coach Mark Phelps. "They are who they are because they play consistently well. There are good things we did tonight that we can build on as we get ready to play Wichita State on Saturday night."
The Bulldogs, who trailed by as many as 15 points late in the first half, worked their way back to just a four-point deficit, at 63-59 with 5:16 to play. Drake continued attack the basket and keep pressure on Creighton, but the Bluejays answered every Bulldog threat down the stretch to seal the victory.
Creighton's Doug McDermott led all scorers with 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, and added 9 rebounds.
Drake shot 44.6 percent from the field while Creighton shot 50 percent. The Bluejays were 7-of-15 from three-point range (46.7%) while the Bulldogs converted just four of 18 from beyond the arc (22.2%). Creighton outrebounded Drake 37-25.
Creighton built a 15-point first-half lead, at 37-22 with 2:27 remaining in the half. The Bulldogs scored the final four points of the half, all on free throws, to cut the deficit to 37-26 going into the locker room.
Drake maintained its momentum to start the second-half, outscoring Creighton 11-4 in the first 3:22 to stretch the overall run to 15-4. The Bluejays' Jahenns Manigat stopped the run with a three-pointer, and Creighton built its lead back 10 at 56-46 with 9:27 to play.
Alexander scored 14 of his 16 points in the second-half to reach double figures for the fifth time in the last seven games.
Rice (Champaign, Ill.) topped the 20-point mark for seventh time this season and the 11th of his career.
The near-capacity crowd provided a tremendous home-court atmosphere for the Bulldogs on their "White Out" night, in particular the student section, which was packed to its fullest level all season.
"We love our crowd here at the Knapp Center," said Phelps. "They provide energy that our players really feed off of. This is a great building for college basketball. I've been fortunate to be in other arenas, every building in the ACC, every building in the Pac-10, and Phog Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas, and this is truly a great building we have here."
"And we will need that same atmosphere on Saturday," Phelps added.
The Bulldogs continue their home stand Saturday night when MVC co-leader Wichita State visits the Knapp Center for an 8:07 tipoff.
