Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012
NORMAL, ILL.--Illinois State guard Tyler Brown scored a game-high 26 points and forward Jackie Carmichael added 18 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to hold off the Drake Bulldogs 64-53 Wednesday night in a Missouri Valley Conference game at Redbird Arena.
Box Score | Updated Season Statistics
Drake redshirt-freshman Jeremy Jeffers (Wilson, N.C.) led three Bulldogs in double figures with 13 points, shooting 5-of-11 from the field. He was followed by junior Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark.) with 12 and sophomore Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill.) with 11. Senior Kraidon Woods (Henryville, Pa.) led the team with five rebounds to go along with four points.
All 12 of Hawley's points came via three-point shots, as he matched the career high of four three-pointers he established in his last outing on Saturday. Redshirt-freshman point guard Karl Madison (Springfield, Ill.) played his most effective and aggressive game in recent weeks, finishing with nine points and six assists.
The Bulldogs fall to 13-12, 6-8 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while the surging Redbirds, winners of five of their last seven games, improved to 16-9, 8-6 MVC.
"We had stretches in the game where we did some good things at both ends of the court," said head coach Mark Phelps. "We couldn't maintain that consistency. It seemed like every time we would make a run they would get to the free-throw line. They went to the line 31 times in the game and that's really tough to overcome."
Neither team shot particularly well from the field, with Drake converting 20-of-52 field goals (38.5%) and Illinois State hitting 16-of-46 (34.8%). The Redbirds, however, capitalized on 20 Drake fouls to convert 28-of-31 from the free-throw line (90.3%), while Drake made 7-of-13 (53.8%). Illinois State outrebounded Drake 45-23.
"Their rebounding advantage was major," Phelps added, "and Jackie Carmichael, obviously, was a man on the boards."
Drake trailed just 30-28 at halftime after overcoming a difficult start that saw Illinois State build a 21-8 lead with 8:21 to play in the half. From that point the Bulldogs embarked on a 16-4 run, sparked by a surge in defensive pressure that led to a number of fast-break baskets. For the game Drake outscored Illinois State 17-2 in fast-break points.
The Bulldogs battled back to tie the game at 28-28 after a Hawley three-pointer with 1:46 to play in the half.
Drake was unable to carry over the momentum to the second half, going cold from the field to allow the Redbirds to rebuild to eight points at 41-33 at the 14:35 mark, and to as many as 13 points at 52-39 with 9:06 to play.
The Bulldogs continued to battle, putting a stop to the Redbirds' run, but were unable to pull closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Playing their second game in a row without junior co-captain and second-leading scorer Ben Simons, Drake struggled to find its rhythm on offense for the first 10 minutes. Simons, diagnosed with mononucleosis, is out indefinitely.
Drake shot 6-of-22 (27.3%) from three-point range, while Illinois State shot 4-20 (20%). The Bulldogs remain in a tie for sixth place at 6-8 in the conference, and face 7-7 Evansville on Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Knapp Center.
"We have to regroup and get ready in three days to play a very good Evansville team at home," said Phelps.
