DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University men's
basketball team struggled to quiet the Southern Illinois backcourt combo of
Jeff Early and Desmar Jackson, falling 66-63, in the regular-season finale at
the Knapp Center Saturday night.
Early sealed the road win for the Salukis (14-16, 6-12) by
converting a jumper to put his team up four, 64-60, with 14.5 seconds left in
regulation. Senior Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) pulled the Bulldogs
(14-16, 7-11) within one point, 64-63, when he swished in his last
three-pointer at home. Early hit two free throws to give Southern Illinois a
three-point lead with five seconds remaining and freshman Micah Mason's
(Natrona Heights, Pa.) buzzer-beating attempt on the ensuing possession was off
the mark.
“We were looking to run an end-of-game action with Micah
[Mason] bringing the ball up,” Drake head coach Mark Phelps said. “Us needing a
three-pointer at that point made it more difficult.”
Simons led the Bulldogs with 15 points in his final
appearance in a Drake uniform at the Knapp Center, while fellow senior
Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) added 12 points for his 10th
straight game in double-figure scoring. Senior Chris Hines (Houston,
Texas), who was also honored before the game as part of 'Senior Night,' had
nine points.
“Obviously it's a disappointing loss for us,” Drake head
coach Mark Phelps. “At the end of the day our defense wasn't good enough and we
didn't take good enough care of the ball. Our offense was fine when we took
care of the ball, but the combination of turning the ball over and allowing 52
percent shooting was too much.”
Turnovers were key for the Salukis as they forced 16 Drake
miscues and scored 18 points off turnovers. Drake only scored five points on 10
Saluki turnovers while allowing SIU to convert at a 51.9 percent clip from the
floor. Drake finished the game shooting 48.8 percent from the floor and 40.9
percent from beyond the three-point arc.
Earlier in the second half, back-to-back three-pointers from
Simons gave Drake its biggest lead to that point, 50-42, forcing a Saluki
timeout with 12:09 remaining in the game. Before that point, Drake's ninth
all-time scorer had been held quiet, having just four points on 1-of-4 shooting
from the field.
The Saluki timeout worked, as they responded with a 9-0 run
that lasted over three minutes to regain the lead, 51-50, with just over nine
minutes in the second half.
Southern Illinois was led by Early, who exploded for 26 points
after being held in check the first time the teams met. After sitting with foul
trouble in the first half, the team's leading scorer on the season in Jackson
finished with 15 points.
“Jeff Early had a great night,” Phelps said. “He's been
playing better lately and our guys knew that. We couldn't stop him enough
tonight.”
Although both teams struggled to score in the early minutes
of the first half, they both picked up pace following the first official
timeout and finished the half shooting above 50 percent with the Bulldogs
holding a slight advantage in the category, with a 52.4 percent mark. Drake
also had a 32-30 lead heading into the locker room.
With the loss and tiebreakers, Drake heads into next week's
Missouri Valley Conference Tournament as the No. 9 seed. The Bulldogs will face
eighth-seeded Bradley on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. in St. Louis' Scottrade Center.
“We've got five days before we play again and we've got to
regroup and come back playing the way we had been in our previous three games,”
Phelps said.
