DETROIT, Mich. – Senior Jordan
Clarke (Rockville, Md.) recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10
rebounds but it was not enough to rally back from a 14-point deficit as the
Drake University men's basketball team fell at Detroit Saturday evening, 85-79.
Clarke's double-double came on 6-of-7 shooting from the
field as the Bulldogs fall to 1-1 on the young season. Detroit (2-1) was paced
by Doug Anderson's 26 points and 10 rebounds while Horizon League Preseason
Player of the Year Ray McCallum poured in 20 points, including a jumper with 13
seconds left to preserve the Titan win.
“I thought we had a great three minutes of basketball there
at the end, the unfortunate thing was we didn't play very well throughout out
the game,” Drake head coach Mark Phelps said. “At the end of the day we had too
many turnovers and didn't make our free throws. Our guys really battled the last
three minutes and we were a McCallum shot away from getting the ball back with
a chance to tie or win it. We're going to learn from this and move forward and
be better team.”
With four minutes to play, Drake was facing a 14-point,
76-62, deficit before the Bulldogs went on a 14-5 run capped by back-to-back
three-pointers from Clarke and Ben Simons
(Cadillac, Mich.) to pull within two points, 81-79, with 46 seconds left. Simons'
three-pointer come courtesy of a possession generated by the defense forcing a
critical five-second call on a Detroit inbound pass.
However, Detroit's next possession saw McCallum deliver his
game-clinching jumper from the top of the key to extend the Titans' lead back
to four. A missed three-pointer on Drake's next possession, followed by a
run-out basket from Detroit accounted for the 85-79 final.
Simons finished the game with 11 points while Chris Hines (Houston, Texas) scored 14 points
in his first game at Drake. Richard
Carter (Detroit, Mich.), playing in his hometown, added 10 points as did
Seth VanDeest. As a team, the Bulldogs shot 49.1 percent from the field and
38.9 percent from the three-point arc.
Drake will return to action on Nov. 22 when it faces
California in the opening game of the DIRECTV Classic in Anaheim, Calif. Tipoff
on ESPN2 is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. CST.
