Men's Basketball Closes Non-Conference Season With a 75-52 Win at IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Led by four players in double-figure scoring, the Drake University men's basketball team cruised past IUPUI, 75-52, on Sunday afternoon in the Bulldogs' final game before the start of Missouri Valley Conference action.

Drake (9-3) led by as many as 31 points in the win as the team's defense held IUPUI to 34.1 (4-12) percent shooting while outrebounding the Jaguars by a 49-30 margin including a 30-16 margin in the second half and a 17-6 advantage on the offensive glass.

Chris Caird (Daventry, England) paced Drake with 17 points, 15 of them coming in the first half, as the junior converted on three of his six three-point attempts. His scoring was picked up in the second half by Jordan Daniels' (Fontana, Calif.) 13 second-half points. Daniels finished the game with 15 points and six assists.

IUPUI was led by Mitch Patton's 13 points and 12 rebounds while Ja'Rob McCallum added 12 points on four three-pointers.

After building up a 15-point, 42-27, halftime lead, the Bulldogs didn't relent in the second half and quickly built up a 20-point, 54-34, cushion thanks to an Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark.) tip-in with 14:31 left in the contest. The senior nearly recorded a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Drake's lead stayed at 20 points or more for the remainder of the game and grew to a game-high 31-points twice on buckets from freshman Blake Danielak (Liberty Hill, Texas), the last coming on a three-pointers with six minutes left in the contest. Danielak finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, six on offense, in just 14 minutes. The action was his first since Nov. 16 as he missed the previous eight games due to illness.

The foundation for Drake's lead was laid early in the first half as Bulldogs led but all for a few seconds of the half with a 12-0 run turning a 1-point deficit into a 25-14 lead with 10:08 left in the half. The defense would maintain that advantage for the following two minutes, holding IUPUI without a point for 5:45 as Hawley scored eight of his 12 points during that span.

The defense held IUPUI to just 12 points in the final 13:52 of the first half and gave the offense the space needed to build up its 42-27 advantage at halftime. Caird scored 15 of his points in the opening half as the Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field and were 6-of-10 from the arc with half of those makes coming from Caird's hot hand.

The Bulldogs return to action on Jan. 1 when they begin MVC play against Evansville. Tipoff against the Purple Aces is scheduled for 7:05 at the Knapp Center.