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Drake University Athletics

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Composite Calendar
Roman Penn
Katharine Jamtgaard
59
Drake DRA 1-1,0-0 MVC
81
Winner Cincinnati UC 1-1,0-0 AAC
Drake DRA
1-1,0-0 MVC
59
Final
81
Cincinnati UC
1-1,0-0 AAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Drake DRA 25 34 59
Cincinnati UC 44 37 81

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Drake Athletic Communications

Men’s Basketball Unable To Erase First-Half Deficit In Loss At Cincinnati

Bulldogs run into a buzzsaw on the road against former MVC rivals

CINCINNATI, Ohio - The University of Cincinnati delivered a knockout blow midway through the first half that the Drake University men's basketball team never recovered from in an 81-59 loss Monday evening at Fifth Third Arena.

The Bearcats' length and depth stymied the Bulldogs all evening and prevented Drake (1-1) from clawing back into the contest after falling behind, 44-25, at halftime.

"It really was their physicality that bothered us more than we had hoped it would," said Drake head coach Darian DeVries. "I didn't think we matched that very well and we haven't seen that type of length."

Drake 7-footer Liam Robbins combatted that length in the second half by scoring eight of his 12 points on the night in the second half. 

"I loved his response in the second half," DeVries said. "That's going to be part of the process for Liam to be out there for 25 minutes and be a guy that we can throw it into. I thought he did a great job even defensively of what we asked him to do."

Anthony Murphy added a team-high 13 points for the Bulldogs and Noah Thomas added nine points. Joseph Yesufu made his Drake debut and contributed seven points and two steals.

Cincinnati (1-1) was led by 17 points from Jaevin Cumberland. His cousin, Jarron, the defending American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, added 11 points as the pair were 10-of-16 shooting from the field to help the Bearcats shoot 51.7 percent.

Cincinnati rolled out to its 44-25 halftime lead thanks to a 29-4 run in the middle of the period that saw Jarron Cumberland score all 11 of his first-half points. Drake trailed 44-18 with less than two minutes left in the half, but closed the period with seven-straight points, including five from Roman Penn, to take some momentum into the locker room. Penn led the Bulldogs with seven first-half points and three assists. He finished the game with six assists.

The Bulldogs briefly trimmed the margin to less than 20 in the second half, but Cincinnati responded with six-straight points to eventually move the lead back out to 27 points. 

"Cincinnati did a great job of taking us out of what we did," DeVries said. "A lot of credit them. They were really good at both ends of the floor."

Robbins did his best to muscle the Bulldogs back into the contest. However, as they had all evening, the Bearcats dismissed every Bulldog charge to preserve the home victory.

"There's a lot of things we will take from this game to learn and continue to get better," DeVries added. "We've got a quick turnaround and we'll need to tuck this one away, learn from it and be ready Wednesday."

Drake aims to rebound from the loss quickly with a Wednesday home game next on the schedule against Kansas City. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Knapp Center.
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