DES MOINES, Iowa - Senior point guard Richard Carter (Detroit, Mich.) scored 23 points and hauled in a career-high 11 rebounds to lead the Drake University men's basketball team over visiting Omaha, 88-80, on Saturday afternoon at the Knapp Center.

With the game tied at halftime, 42-42, Drake shot 51 percent in the second half to pull away for the win as Gary Ricks, Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif.) sparked the second-half surge with 13 points, all in the second half. Five of those points came in a brief spurt to give Drake its first significant cushion of the afternoon with four minutes to play in the contest.

Omaha was led by 17 points from both Devin Patterson and C.J. Carter as the Mavericks made 11 three-pointers in the contest.

“I thought our guys battled their tail off,” Drake head coach Ray Giacoletti said. “They're [Omaha] a very good team and a very underrated team. They hit some shots early and we had to withstand that first run. I'm proud of our guys for fighting back.”

That fight back saw Drake go on a 7-0 run to open the second half thanks to back-to-back buckets from Carter via steals from himself and Trevor Berkeley (Tucker, Ga.). The Bulldog defense forced 17 turnovers on the day and held a 14-2 advantage in points off turnovers to prevail despite surrendering 80 points.

“Our number [to hold opponents under] is 60, so we're little off that,” Giacoletti said. “Some nights you have to throw the numbers out and find a way to win and this was one of those nights.”

Omaha whittled away at the 7-point Drake lead and eventually re-took the lead, 54-53, with 10:12 left in the contest. Drake responded with a 13-5 run capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Carter and Chris Caird (Daventry, England) off an assist from Carter. Caird would finish the game with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists.

“Richard [Carter]  is a guy who's very fast and athletic,” Giacoletti said. “He's our leader and he does a great job making decisions in transition and we want the ball in his hands.”

The Bulldogs' lead was trimmed again before Ricks, who was scoreless in the first half, went on his tear to help build the Bulldogs' lead back up to seven points. The junior also added six rebounds and a career-high five assists.

“He had some good looks early, but Gary makes the game really simple and easy,” Giacoletti said. “He's able to slow down and make a good decisions.”

With Omaha forced to foul in the final minute, the Bulldogs stepped to the line 10 times and converted on eight of the opportunities for their second home win of the season.

Drake trailed by as many as eight points in the first six minutes of the game as the Mavericks came out shooting on tear and made six of their first 10 shots from the field including a pair of three-pointers. Omaha held onto that lead until an Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark.) three-pointer with 4:26 left in the period briefly put Drake on top. Hawley finished with a season-high 14 points in 17 minutes. A  Caird three-pointer and a Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa) layup in the final 1:20 tied the game heading into halftime. The senior center had nine first-half points en route to 13 on the afternoon.

The game was the Bulldogs' last home game until Dec. 14 as the team takes to the road this week for a three-game series at Fresno State. The Bulldogs take on the host at 9 p.m. CST on Nov. 29, followed by games against Northern Arizona and CSU-Bakersfield the following days.