PEORIA, Ill. – Strong first-half shooting and stifling second-half defense propelled the Drake University men's basketball team to a 69-57 road win at Bradley in Missouri Valley Conference action Wednesday evening.

Drake (5-16, 2-7 MVC) snapped a 12-game road losing streak by shooting 66.7 percent in the opening half of the contest to take a 10-point halftime lead. Later, the Bulldogs' defense held Bradley (7-15, 2-7 MVC) to just two field goals in the final 10 minutes of the game while the Braves shot 34.8 percent in the period.

The Bulldogs were led by senior Gary Ricks, Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif.) and freshman Reed Timmer (New Berlin, Wis.) with 15 points each on combined 6-of-12 shooting from three point range. Jacob Enevold (Lunderskov, Denmark) added 14 points on a 6-of-7 night shooting.

“We've tried to be able to give maximum effort and have no regrets, this team has fought through adversity and continues to work hard every day,” said Drake head coach Ray Giacoletti. “Hopefully we can enjoy this tonight and get back to work tomorrow.”

Bradley got 18 points off the bench from Warren Jones while Josh Cunningham added 16 points and 15 rebounds, eight of them off the offensive glass. The Braves' rebounding kept the contest relatively close all evening as BU held a 35-23 advantage in rebounding and scored 22 points off of its 18 offensive boards.

“Those are things that you can control and are something we need to do better at,” Giacoletti said of the rebounding discrepancy.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 41-31 halftime lead as the squad shot 66.7 percent in the half and 60 percent from three-point range. Drake made its first four shots from the field to take a quick lead and extended that advantage to 19-8 following back-to-back three-pointers from Ricks and Timmer with 14:17 left in the half.

Not content to let the offense steal the spotlight, the Bulldog defense later clamped down. Bradley pulled within four points, 24-20, with 10 minutes left in the period. However, the defense responded and only allowed one field goal in the next seven minutes to assemble a 34-28 lead with 3:28 left in the half. Drake kept the lead at 10 or more points for the remainder of the half to finish with 41 points, its most in the first half of an MVC game this season.

Drake extended its lead to 15 in the first six minutes of the second half on a Ricks' three-pointer to go up, 54-39. However, the previously hot offense cooled and scored just four points in the next seven minutes to allow the Braves to pull within seven points, 58-51, with 7:37 left in the contest.

Fortunately for the visitors, the defense continued to generate stops, holding Bradley to just six points with one field goal for the remainder of the contest to secure the road victory.

Drake returns home on Saturday, Jan. 31, for its first meeting of the season with Evansville. Tip off against the Purple Aces is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.