DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University men's basketball team was defeated by Southern Illinois, 81-76, despite 27 points from sophomore Reed Timmer (New Berlin, Wis.) Sunday afternoon at the Knapp Center.
Drake (5-13, 0-6 MVC) shot 53 percent from the field and made 41 percent of their 3-pointers. Timmer's 27 points came via 8-of-14 shooting and an 8-of-11 outing from the free-throw line with five assists. His 27 points marked the sixth time this season he reached 20 points. Jacob Enevold (Lunderskov, Denmark) also tallied 13 points and six rebounds. Karl Madison (Springfield, Ill.) made his first start of the season and responded with five assists.
Southern Illinois (16-3, 5-1 MVC) was led by Anthony Beane's 26 points, three assists and three rebounds. Bola Olaniyan added 14 rebounds for the Salukis. The SIU shot 52 percent from the field and scored 22 points off of Drake's turnovers as SIU won its seventh straight road game. Meanwhile, the loss was the Bulldogs eighth loss of the season by ten or fewer points, and their seventh by eight or less.
"We've got to understand how to win and they've got to go win them and get confidence and believe that they can do it," said Drake head coach Ray Giacoletti. "We have to understand and trust each other what we're doing with ball screen coverage and that's something that we still aren't doing."
Drake faced an 11-point, 42-31, deficit to open the second half and both teams traded points back-and-forth to start the second half until Drake went on a 7-0 run that lasted 1:25 to bring them within six points, 46-40. Later, a 10-0 Drake run capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Timmer gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the second half at 61-59 with 8:30 left in the contest. SIU answered with a 16-4 run to retake the lead and extend it to 10 points, 75-65, with 2:36 left. A three-pointer by Graham Woodward (Edina, Minn.) brought the Bulldogs within five points with 1:39 left but Drake was unable to erase the Salukis lead.
"Coming down the stretch we got to figure out a way to get stops and those key rebounds," Timmer said. "We did a better job in the second half, but not good enough and we still need to be able to execute on the defensive end."
SIU started the game by answering a Bulldog three-pointer with nine straight points to take an early 9-3 lead. After back to back three-pointers by Ore Arogundade (Chicago, Ill.) and Woodward, Arogundade was fouled on a layup giving Drake back the lead at 14-13. But turnovers kept the Bulldogs from holding onto their lead as they had three with in 1:30 and SIU went up 24-20. Another 9-0 SIU run gave the Salukis a 37-29 lead and was part of a 14-2 run to close the half.
The Bulldogs continue their homestand on Wednesday evening when they welcome Missouri State to the Knapp Center. Tipoff at the Knapp Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. with the contest broadcast regionally on Mediacom MC22 and The Valley On ESPN3.
