CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Drake men's basketball team did not hang on in the second half in a close 53-49 loss at Southern Illinois on Wednesday, Jan. 4 inside the Banterra Center.
 
D.J. Wilkins was the top scorer for the Bulldogs with 14 points followed by Tucker DeVries with 11 points and six rebounds. Darnell Brodie pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds while Roman Penn led Drake in assists with seven.
 
After leading 30-27 at the half, Drake suffered from scoring droughts to finish with 19 second half points, limited to 8-for-25 shooting from the field in the second half.
 
"Some of it was us getting stagnant and some of it was missing shots," head coach Darian DeVries said. "We didn't get rewarded with baskets on some good possessions. I thought in general that we did a fairly decent job getting good looks."
 
Conor Enright, Tucker DeVries and Sardaar Calhoun all drilled treys on consecutive possessions as part of a 14-0 Bulldog run putting the visitors ahead 16-3 at the 13:08 mark of the first half.
 
The Salukis (12-4, 4-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play) responded with an 8-0 run of their own that was answered by a Garrett Sturtz wing triple with 8:46 remaining in the opening half as Drake (11-5, 2-3) led 19-11.
 
Wilkins connected on a 15-foot jumper from the free throw line with 5:30 to go before halftime as the margin widened to double figures (25-15). SIU closed out the first half on a 12-5 spurt with the Bulldogs still up at half, 30-27.
 
After five minutes elapsed in the second half, DeVries drove hard to the rim for a layup and 35-31 advantage. The Drake offense picked up the pace with back-to-back 3-pointers from DeVries and Wilkins followed by a layup through contact by Eric Northweather as the visitors led 43-34 at the 12:21 mark of the second half.
 
The Bulldogs turned the ball over that created a Marcus Domask layup on the end with Southern Illinois taking advantage of an 8-0 run. Less than a minute later with 7:11 on the clock, Roman Penn ended the run with a floater in the lane for a 45-42 Drake edge.
 
After both teams were held scoreless for 3:34, Domask put the Salukis ahead by a point at 46-45 with 3:17 still to play.
 
Wilkins drained a mid-range jump shot to bring the Bulldogs within a point and Brodie delivered a huge put-back as the Bulldogs shifted back in front, 49-48 while SIU spent a timeout (52.1 seconds remaining).
 
Domask pushed Southern Illinois ahead, 51-49 when he swished a left wing trifecta with only half a minute to go. Following an empty offensive trip, Drake fouled Domask with 11 seconds left ticking and the red-hot free throw shooter missed the front end of the one-and-one.
 
The Bulldogs had a couple of chances to knot the game in the final 10 seconds, but Penn and DeVries both had attempts rim out. Two more Domask free throws sealed the game, 53-49. Domask scored 17 points in the second half.
 
"Even though we're disappointed with how we have started the conference race, we don't have to move mountains to get to where we have to go," Darian DeVries said. "Looking at the conference losses, we've had three games on the road with leads in the second half. The biggest thing is to make sure we stay on the right track."   
 
Drake men's basketball will return home from the road trip to host Murray State for Des Moines' Hometown Team Weekend on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 5 p.m.
 
Team Notes
•Drake, suffering it second straight loss, slipped to 11-5 on the season, including a 2-3 Missouri Valley Conference record.
•The Bulldogs are 0-5 on the road this season.
•Drake closed out the game missing seven of its last nine shots, in the last 7:10, The Bulldogs went 5 minutes and 15 seconds (7:10 to 1:55) without making a basket.
•Drake tied a season low in scoring for the second straight game with 49 points. 
•Drake's 30 points in the first half were the most points scored by the Bulldogs in their last three games.
•Drake fell to 2-2 this season when allowing opponents 59 points or less and 34-6 during the Darian DeVries coaching era. 
•The Bulldogs are 3-2 in games played on Wednesday and 25-7 during the DeVries coaching era.
•Drake, which owned a 30-27 halftime lead, fell to 8-2 when leading at half, 81-12 during DeVries coach era.
 
Individual Notes
•Graduate guard D.J. Wilkins led Drake with 14 points —his second highest scoring output of the season.
•Sophomore forward Tucker DeVries added 11 points for Drake.
•DeVries enjoyed his 15th double-figure scoring game of the season, including his sixth straight contest.
•Senior center Darnell Brodie grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds—his fifth double-figure rebounding game of the season and 14th in his career.
•Brodie enjoyed his eighth straight game collecting six or more rebounds.
•Graduate guard Roman Penn dished out a season-high seven assists, marking the sixth game this season that he has collected five or more assists in a game this season.
•Graduate swingman Garrett Sturtz scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds while achieving a milestone, becoming the third player in Drake history to collect more the 1,200 points and 800 rebounds in his career. He joins Melvin Mathis (1651 pts., 854 rebs., 1982-86) and Jonathan Cox (1205 pts., 818 rebs., 2006-09). Sturtz ranks No. 3 on the Drake all-time individual rebounding list.
•DeVries led Drake with two steals-marking his eighth game this season with two steals.
•Penn missed his first 10 shots of the game before making his lone basket with 7:11 left.
•Penn pushed his school career record assists total to 497.
•D.J. Wilkins made two three-point baskets, increasing his school record career three-point baskets total to 263.
 
The Series
•Southern Illinois, which snapped a five-game losing streak to Drake, leads the overall series, 61-41, including a 35-13 record in Carbondale.
•Darian DeVries owns a 7-3 record against Southern Illinois while at Drake.