DES MOINES, Iowa – A second-half surge from preseason All-American Ron Baker allowed the No. 16 Wichita State Shockers to escape the Knapp Center with a 66-58 win over the Drake University men's basketball team Wednesday night in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams. 

Baker scored 15 of the Shockers' last 18 points to seal the win and finished with a game-high 23 points. Tekele Cotton added 17 points for the victors.

Despite the result, Drake (3-10, 0-1 MVC) saw a career night from sophomore center Jacob Enevold Jensen (Lunderskov, Denmark), who paced the Bulldogs with a 12-point, 15-rebound double-double.  Enevold's 15 boards were a game and career high, and the center has now scored in double figures in four of his last six games.

Enevold attributed his standout performance and his team's effort to the Bulldogs' tough practices in recent days.

“Great practices lead to great games,” Enevold said.  “We had a string of about three practices where we just went hard at it and that's how we have to practice.  That's what we're learning.”

Drake outrebounded Wichita State (11-2, 1-0 MVC) 38-to-29 in the loss, and the Bulldogs doubled-up the Shockers on the offensive glass, 12-to-6. The 12 offensive rebounds were a season-high for the Bulldogs.

That performance on the boards combined with defense is precisely what head coach Ray Giacoletti has preached as the winning foundation for the Drake program.

“The foundation is defense, night in and night out, where you can go out and shoot 33 percent—that being us—and still have a chance to win a game,” Giacoletti said.  “The other piece is rebounding the basketball, and really for the first time this year, we're starting to understand the importance of that.”

In addition to their work on the glass, the Bulldogs committed a season-low seven turnovers.

While the Bulldogs did drop their conference opener, Giacoletti called the closely contested game a step in the right direction for his program.  Drake senior guard Gary Ricks, Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif.) echoed that sentiment.

“I think this was a big stepping-stone for us. It shows what our future holds,” Ricks said. “I don't really like moral victories but this obviously was one.  We battled hard and I'm just excited to see what we can do the rest of the Missouri Valley Conference (season).”

Ricks, Jr. was the only other Bulldog to hit double-digits Wednesday, tallying 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting. Chris Caird (Daventry, England) hit a pair of three-pointers off the bench to finish with nine points.

Nearly 35 minutes of the contest was played neck-and-neck with neither team building a significant lead until WSU assumed a 10-point lead twice with less than six minutes to play on back-to-back three-pointers from Baker. Those three-pointers were part of a small, 11-5, run that allowed the Shockers to build up just enough cushion to stave off a Bulldog rally.

Drake twice cut the lead to four points in the final four minutes on baskets from Enevold, but the Bulldogs were held to just one point in the final 3:30 of the contest.

Drake will hit the road for its next conference encounter. The Bulldogs play at Missouri State on Saturday, with tip off scheduled for 3p.m. The game can be seen on MVC TV affiliates or heard on 1350-AM KRNT.