NICEVILLE, Fla. – The Drake men's basketball team left Florida's Emerald Coast with another tally in the win column as it took down Georgia Tech from Raider Arena, 84-74, on Saturday afternoon.
 
There was no slow start for the Bulldogs this go around as Drake's offense was clicking in the early goings. Okku Federiko was the main man getting the job done from all areas of the floor connecting on a pair of triples and getting to the charity stripe for a quick 10 points.
 
Meanwhile, Andrew Alia did his damage from the outside also hitting on two three-balls to give Drake a 22-16 lead at the under-12 media timeout.
 
Despite the hot shooting from Drake, the Yellow Jackets matched with some good shooting of their own not allowing the Bulldogs to pull away. Following Lamar Washington going 1-for-2 at the free throw line, Drake clung to a 32-29 lead and moments later a three-pointer from Kam Craft tied the game with 5:52 on the clock.
 
With the half winding down, Drake and Georgia Tech went back-and-forth making bucket-for-bucket. The Dogs played through Jalen Quinn and the senior took over scoring the final four points of the frame to take Drake into the locker room up 43-40.
 
Quinn led all scorers at the break with 14 points and added six assists. Federiko concluded his first half with 12 points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field despite picking up three fouls. Both Drake and Georgia Tech shot over 50-percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.
 
The second half picked right back up with the same frenetic pace as the first half and Drake held on to its slight lead. Following a nice drop pass by Quinn to a wide open Federiko in the low post, the Bulldogs led by eight, 57-49, with 14:32 remaining.
 
At the 11:52 mark, Quinn set a new-career high scoring one free throw to give him 21 points in the contest and pushed Drake's lead to 58-52. On the Bulldogs' next possession, a smooth-running layup from the senior gave Drake its largest lead up to that point.
 
From there, it was Jaehshon Thomas' turn to take over. The guard started to heat up with a couple of jumpers, including a trey from the corner, and the Bulldogs were suddenly up by 12, 68-56, and Georgia Tech needed a timeout.
 
The Bulldogs weren't in the clear yet, however. The Yellow Jackets cut Drake's lead back to single digits at the 72-65 mark with a quick scoring run and just under four minutes left. Georgia Tech also started to crash the offensive glass and used second chance opportunities to stay within single digits at 77-70 and 1:44 showing on the clock.
 
The game ultimately came down to free throws for the Bulldogs to close it out and they did just that to earn their fifth win of the season.
 
"To be able to come back and respond and to play with the composure that we did, I was so proud of," Drake head coach Eric Henderson said. "Obviously, Jalen was great. Okku got us going with a terrific start, and Andrew, defensively, I thought was terrific on the Craft kid so it was a total team effort and I'm really happy with how our guys were able to respond.
 
Drake now returns to the Knapp Center on Tuesday, Dec. 2 to host Western Illinois. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with the game available to stream on ESPN+.
 
Team Notes
•The Bulldogs now have an overall record of 5-3 and are 2-1 in neutral site contests.
•Drake won the rebound battle 36-32.
•There were four ties and four lead changes over the course of the game.
•Drake has won its last two games played against teams from the ACC. The Bulldogs defeated Miami (FL), 80-69, in its opening game of the Charleston Classic last year.
•The Bulldogs snapped a four-game losing streak in games played from the state of Florida with the win over Georgia Tech.
•Drake tallied five second chance points and held the Tigers to just three.
 
Individual Notes
•Jalen Quinn set a new career-high with 31 points and tied his career-best with seven assists.
•Quinn was the first Bulldog to score 30 points in a game since Bennett Stirtz went for 30 points against Southern Illinois on Feb. 1, 2025.
•Okku Federiko posted a new career-high scoring 20 points. It marked the first 20-point game in the sophomore's career.
•Jaehshon Thomas was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 10.
 
The Series
•This was the first-ever meeting between the two programs