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Liam Robbins at Illinois State
Illinois State Athletics
53
Drake DRA 18-11,8-8 MVC
57
Winner Illinois St. ISU 9-19,4-12 MVC
Drake DRA
18-11,8-8 MVC
53
Final
57
Illinois St. ISU
9-19,4-12 MVC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Drake DRA 32 21 53
Illinois St. ISU 29 28 57

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

Illinois State Defeats Men's Basketball In Final Minutes

Robbins scored 14 points with nine rebounds for the Bulldogs

Another Missouri Valley Conference game came down the final minute as Illinois State pushed past the Drake University men's basketball team, 57-53, Saturday afternoon at Redbird Arena.

The back-and-forth contest was knotted at 53-53 for nearly two minutes after Drake's Jonah Jackson hit his fourth three-pointer of the day with 3:14 left to give him 12 points on the afternoon. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, those were their last points of the day as two untimely turnovers in the final 1:20 allowed Illinois State to pull away. 

"We've been in a lot of these [close games] this year where the game comes down to two, three, four possessions," said Drake head coach Darian DeVries. "The team that finds a way to make those plays at the right time is the team that is smiling afterward. That's all part of it right now for us, especially on the road. We've had a lot of these opportunities and need to figure out a way to close them out."

Drake (18-11, 8-8 MVC), which was held to its lowest point total in an MVC game this season, struggled early in the second half to score against Illinois State's (9-19, 4-12 MVC) zone. The Bulldogs shot 32 percent in the second half after converting at a 52 percent clip in the opening half and finished the game shooting 42 percent.

"I thought we got stagnant," DeVries said. "We didn't get the ball in the paint, whether it be post-touches or penetration. We settled a little bit. I thought midway through the second half, we got more aggressive and got better looks, but down the stretch weren't able to execute well enough."

Liam Robbins led the Bulldogs with 14 points and nine rebounds while Jackson was the only other Bulldog in double-figures with his 12 points. 

The Redbirds got 21 points and seven boards from Keith Fisher III and Antonio Reeves added 16 points off the bench, including four three-pointers. 

Drake carried a 32-29 lead into halftime after being held scoreless for the final three minutes of the half. Illinois State erased that margin two minutes into the second half on a pair of three-pointers. 

Drake's offense continued to struggle as the Redbirds pulled away to a double-digit lead at 52-41 with a 10-0 run that kept Drake off the board for nearly four minutes. However, with eight minutes remaining, the Bulldogs began to find small pockets of success in the Redbird zone and cut that lead in half over the next four minutes with a Robbins' three-point play. 

With less than four minutes left, Roman Penn buried a corner three-pointer for the Bulldogs to pare the deficit down to a possession at 52-50. Thirty-four seconds later, Jackson's three-pointer tied the game at 53-53 to set up another thrilling final three minutes that unfortunately would not go the Bulldogs' way.

The team remains on the road for its next game, a Tuesday evening affair at Loyola in what will be the Bulldogs' final road game of the season before returning to the Knapp Center to host UNI Feb. 29 on ESPN2 at 5 p.m.
 
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