DES MOINES, Iowa — A second-half rally and a career-high 13 points from C.J. Rivers (Cahokia, Ill.) wasn't enough to overcome a 22-point deficit as the Indiana State men's basketball defeated Drake, 79-69, Wednesday evening at the Knapp Center.
Drake (5-10, 0-3 MVC) was led offensively by Rivers and Jacob Enevold (Lunderskov, Denmark) , who recorded his second double-double of the season with a team-high 14 points and 11 rebounds. Reed Timmer (New Berlin, Wis.) scored 13 points, followed by Graham Woodward (Edina, Minn.) and Kale Abrahamson (West Des Moines, Iowa) with 11 each. Freshmen Nick McGlynn (Stoughton, Wis.) also recorded a career-high seven rebounds to help the Bulldogs outrebound the Sycamores, 42-36.
Indiana State (8-7, 2-1 MVC) was led by DeVonte Brown's career-high 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Brown, who recorded 19 first-half points, also tallied eight rebounds and was followed by Brenton Scott with 14 points and Everett Clemons' seven rebounds.
Minutes into the game, Indiana State went on a 6-0 run later followed by a 9-0 run to put the Sycamores up, 21-9. Drake later forced an Indiana State scoring drought that lasted 3:02 to pull within seven points, but ISU added seven-points and later extended its lead to 37-19 lead over the Bulldogs. A three-pointer from Brown going into halftime put the Sycamores up 46-26 as the team shot 53.1 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from the arc in the opening half. The Bulldogs converted on just 33.3 percent of their first-half attempts and an uncharacteristically low 25 percent from the arc.
"You can't spot a team 20 points and expect to be able to come back from that," said Drake head coach Ray Giacoletti. "We made a good effort in the second half but it's how you start games and halves. They [Indiana State] scored on their first six possessions and you just can't do those kind of things. We've got to be able to get stops and trust each other."
Drake rebounded in the second half and assembled an 11-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from Abrahamson that began with strong shooting by Rivers and four rebounds by McGlynn to pull within four points, 56-52, with 10 minutes left in the game.
"We definitely felt the momentum changing," Rivers said. "When we cut it to four, the conversation was pretty excited and positive. It felt like we had momentum and it was just a couple stops we've got to get down the stretch."
Drake continued to put pressure on the second half by shooting 53.8 percent in the half but could not generate enough stops as ISU extended its lead back to 11 points, 68-57, with 5:28 left. Enevold answered with six-straight points to preserve Drake's comeback hopes until a pair of ISU free throws in the final minute extended their lead to the final 79-69 tally.
The Bulldogs travel next to face UNI in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Jan. 9. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST with the game broadcast on The Valley on ESPN3 and Panthers Sports Network affiliates.
