St. Louis, Mo. - In a season full of resilient performances, the Drake University men's basketball team delivered one of its most impressive showings with a 78-62 win over Illinois State in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Friday evening.
 
The regular-season MVC Champion Bulldogs entered Friday's game with a roster of just seven scholarship players due to injury. With 11:12 left in the first half the team's depth got even more shallow as Nick McGlynn, the league's reigning Defensive Player of the Year who finished second in Player of the Year voting went down with a knee injury. McGlynn did not return to the game and his status for Saturday's 5 p.m. semifinal against UNI is unknown.
 
However, Tremell and Anthony Murphy responded to the task at hand by combining for 42 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs.
 
"I was certainly proud of our guys' effort tonight," said Drake head coach Darian DeVries. "They certainly competed and left it all out there tonight. This time of year that's what it's all about, finding a way to advance to the next day. They played with the same energy, residency and unselfishness they have all year."
 
Tremell Murphy posted a career-high 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting while his twin brother Anthony recorded a double-double with a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Noah Thomas also added 13 points and five assists for Drake (24-8).
 
"These guys have a tremendous belief in one another," DeVries added. "They love to compete and whatever they've prepared themselves and put themselves in a position to perform. None of them care about anything but winning."
 
The Bulldogs blitzed Illinois State early in jumping out to a 37-17 halftime lead by holding the Redbirds to just 25 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes of the game. Tremell Murphy scored 14 of his points in the opening half and back-to-back three-pointers from Brady Ellingson helped fuel the 20-point halftime lead. Tremell Murphy also added back-to-back three-pointers to cap a 13-0 run that gave Drake a 22-7 lead with 8:38 left in the half.
 
However, McGlynn's injury tempered the explosive start. In his absence, freshman Liam Robbins stepped up immediately in playing a career-high 23 minutes and recording five points and five rebounds.
 
The Redbirds opened up the second half on a 15-6 run to trim the deficit to 12 points, 43-31, on a Keyshawn Evans three-pointer with 15:48 left in the game. Drake continued to weather Redbird runs and keep a double-digit lead until another Evans three-pointer with 4:09 left drew ISU within nine points at 69-60.
 
But again, the undermanned Bulldogs responded this time with 9-0 run and six-straight points from Thomas to give the Bulldogs an 18-point lead with less than 30 seconds left to propel the Bulldogs into the semifinals.
 
Those six points were the only of the game for Evans and Phil Fayne led Illinois State (17-16) with 18 points while Milik Yarbrough was held to 11 points on 3-of-17 shooting.