RENO, Nev. – Led by five players scoring in double-figures, the Drake University men's basketball team defeated Nevada, 76-66, on the road Friday night in the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge.

Richard Carter (Detroit, Mich.) had his best game to date in a Drake (3-3) uniform with 16 points, a game-high seven rebounds and four assists with just one turnover. The junior college transfer was 6-of-12 from the field as the Bulldogs shot 44.6 percent from the field and a 45 percent (9-of-20) from three-point range.

“I had two rough games in California and my coaches and teammates told me they were sticking with me and that gave me a lot of confidence,” Carter said. “I just wanted to come out, play well and not let them down.”

Despite the offensive numbers, Drake's defense and rebounding won the game against a Nevada (4-3) squad that won 28 games and its conference title last season. The Wolf Pack shot 41.2 percent from the field as the Bulldogs' defense imposed its will in the second half to allow just 30.8 percent shooting.

“In the second half our defense clamped down,” Drake head coach Mark Phelps said. “We talked about previous games we had struggled and our guys were determined, to a man, to not let that happen again. They played to win until the very end of the game and defensively that's where it happened. Defense was the name of the game.”

On the boards,  Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) led an offensive rebounding attack that held a 10-5 advantage to allow Drake to outscore the Wolf Pack, 14-0, on second chance points. Clarke finished with six total boards to go along with his 15 points, two assists and two steals.

“It was a total team effort,” Phelps said. “I thought our guys played hard and played together.”

Nevada was led by Malik Story and Deonte Burton with 19 and 12 points, respectively.

The Bulldogs built up a six-point, 45-39, lead at halftime thanks to 11 points apiece from Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) and Jeremy Jeffers (Wilson, N.C.) with six of their buckets coming from the three-point arc. In the opening stanza Drake converted on 63.6 percent of its 11 attempts from the arc.

After the first-half's three-point barrage, the offense went inside in the second half as the Bulldogs made just two three-pointers in the second half while the scoring 14 of its 31 second-half points in the paint. Twelve of those points in the paint came from Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa) who finished with 14 points on the evening.

The Bulldogs built up a 10-point lead halfway through the second half and extended that to as many as 15 points, 73-58, with 4:44 left to play thanks to a 6-0 run.  The Wolf Pack briefly pulled back within nine points before two critical free throws from Clarke extended the lead back out to double-digits.

After five games away from home, Drake returns to the Knapp Center on Wednesday to face St. Mary's. Tipoff against the perennial NCAA participant Gaels is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.