NORMAL, Ill. – A career-high
23 points from Chris Hines (Houston,
Texas) and a tough second-half defensive effort helped propel the Drake
University men's basketball team over Illinois State, 82-77, Saturday night at
Redbird Arena.
Facing a 9-point first-half deficit after allowing the
Redbirds to shoot 54.8 percent from the field, the defense stole the show in
the second half by keeping Illinois State (9-8, 0-5 MVC) without a field goal
for the first 6:13 of the half to take the lead. The Redbirds mustered just
32.4 percent shooting in the stanza.
“I thought we did a better job in the second half of playing
hard and outside of ourselves – and that showed on defense.” Drake head coach Mark Phelps said.
Jordan Clarke (Rockville,
Md.) scored Drake's (7-9, 1-4 MVC) first six points of the half and finished
the game with a 16-point, 11-rebound effort that included 7-of-7 shooting.
“Jordan is starting to step outside his comfort zone and be
a more vocal leader,” Phelps said. “We heard his voice out there tonight.”
Fellow senior Ben
Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) capped the run that gave the Bulldogs the lead at 46-44
with five straight points. Simons matched Hines with 23 points, five rebounds
and three assists.
“The way we played on defense carried over to offense
especially in taking care of the ball,” Phelps added. “We had just five second-half
turnovers after 10 in the first half.”
The Bulldogs continued to build that lead to as many as 15
at one point, thanks in large part to five combined second-half three-pointers
from Hines and Simons. Drake's shooters rediscovered their touch after series
of subpar games by shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from
three-point range with 10 three-pointers.
With 6:31 left, Drake still led by 14 points, 72-58, before
the Redbirds started to chip away at the margin . A 15-5 run by ISU closed the
gap to two possessions, 77-73, with 47 seconds left. Drake was able to navigate
through the trapping defense in the final minute and converted its free throws
to stave off the Redbirds.
Two of those free-throws that helped seal the win came off
the fingertips of freshman Joey King (Eagan,
Minn.) who notched his first double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Johnny Hill paced ISU with 24 points while Bryant Allen added 22 points, but
just six in the second half.
Drake returns to the Knapp Center for its next contest, a
Jan. 16 date against Evansville. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Mediacom
MC22.
