DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake men's basketball team was back in the Knapp Center for its home opener on Thursday night as it welcomed Robert Morris to Iowa's capital city. The Colonials, however, played the role of spoiler and ended Drake's 49-game home non-conference winning streak with an overtime win, 81-79.
 
The Colonials came out of the gates shooting well as they went a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor to open the game. Drake, however, hung with the hot start from RMU as Okku Federiko poured in a couple early buckets followed by a transition three-ball by Jaehshon Thomas to give the Bulldogs a 7-6 edge.
 
A quick 5-0 spurt from RMU saw Drake's lead turn into a deficit, but the Dogs were still within striking distance at the under-12 media timeout. Redshirt sophomore Eli Shetlar connected on the second three-pointer of the night for Drake, which put the score at 16-13 with 11:55 to go in the half.
 
With another basket inside the paint by Federiko, Drake cut the Colonials lead down to just two at 20-18. RMU quickly countered with another burst of six straight points, however, which forced a timeout from the Bulldog bench with Drake now trailing by eight.
 
Over the next few minutes, Robert Morris continued to shoot it well from the field and went ahead by double-digits after back-to-back three-balls by Cam Wilds and Darius Livingston. The Bulldogs down the stretch played through the hot hand of Federiko and cut the deficit to five, 40-35, by the end of the half.
 
The Helsinki, Finland native led all scorers at the half and added seven rebounds. For the Colonials, they had a pair of players in double-digits in Ryan Prather Jr. with 10 and DeSean Goode with 11. RMU controlled the boards with 22 rebounds and shot 49-percent over the first 20 minutes.
 
The second half opened with an and-one from Wilguens Jr. Exacte to get the Bulldogs rolling and at the 14:28 mark the Dogs went running. A pivotal 10-0 run, highlighted by a Griffen Goodbary dunk along with an and-one from Quinn, put Drake ahead for the first time since the score was 8-7 in the first half.
 
Drake then immediately went on another scoring spurt, a 6-0 stretch capped by a one-handed jam from Quinn, to go up 58-52 with 10:00 minutes remaining.
 
Robert Morris eventually fought its way back as the Bulldogs went cold for a two-minute span and retook the lead, 61-60, off a three pointer from Albert Vargas.
 
The two sides went back-and-forth as the clock wound down, but Drake pulled ahead by three with some free throws from Quinn only to ultimately become tied again at 66-66 off another three-ball by Vargas for RMU.
 
Two more points at the charity stripe by Exacte with just over a minute to go put Drake in front, 68-66, but the Colonials had another answer. This time RMU went inside to its post presence Nikolaos ChitiKoudis who converted a lay-in to tie the ballgame back up.
 
Following a missed layup by Quinn with :25 remaining, Robert Morris had the last chance opportunity, but was denied with on a Federiko blocked shot and the game went into overtime.
 
In the overtime period, the seesaw action kept up with Drake and Robert Morris coming deadlocked at 79-all following a pair of free throws from the Colonials. On RMU's next possession, Livingston got inside the paint and scored on a driving layup with just 59 ticks left on the clock to give them the lead.
 
Drake had to make one last defensive stop and score, but the opportunity was squandered away on Robert Morris' final shot attempt as the loose ball traveled all the way into the backcourt and the clock ran out before Drake could get possession for a last-second attempt.
 
"At the end of the day, we've got to do a better job of making sure that we come out and dictate the flow of this game and I thought at the end of the day Robert Morris probably did that," Drake head coach Eric Henderson said. "To no surprise. Obviously, we know what the outcome was for them on Tuesday night and I knew we'd get a different team than we saw Tuesday. Credit to them. We'll keep learning and keep growing from this and we'll be alright."
 
Quinn led all scorers by the games end scoring 20 points for the second straight game. Federiko poured in a double-double performance with career marks of 18 points and 15 rebounds. Meanwhile, Exacte and Thomas added 13 points and 11 points, respectively.
 
Drake shot 37-percent from the field on the night, while Robert Morris shot 47-percent, comparatively. The Colonials also won the rebounding battle by a mark of 46-36.
 
The Bulldogs will look to bounce back on Monday, Nov. 10 against Simpson. Tipoff from the Knapp Center is slated for 6:30 p.m. with the game being broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Team Notes
•The Bulldogs had a streak of winning eight straight home openers (dating back to 2017) come to an end.
•The loss also halted Drake's streak of 49 consecutive nonconference home victories.
•There were 13 lead changes and 12 ties in the game.
•Drake shot 36.9 percent from the floor, making 24 of 56 shots.
•The Bulldogs missed their last 10 shots in regulation, making their last basket with 8:11 left by Wilguens Jr. Exacte which gave Drake its biggest lead of the game at 60-54.
•The Bulldogs hit 26.1 percent from three-point range, making six of 23 shots.
•Drake scored 22 points off 10 Robert Morris turnovers while collecting 10 steals.
•Eric Henderson's collegiate career coaching record slipped to 130-71 in seven years.
•For the second straight game, nine players scored points for Drake.
•Four players scored in double figures for Drake.
 
Individual Notes
•Senior transfer guard Jalen Quinn, appearing in his 101st collegiate career game (99 at Loyola-Chicago), led a balanced scoring attack with career-high 20 points for the second straight game. He tallied 11 points in the second half. 
•Sophomore transfer forward Okku Federiko recorded his first career double-double with a career-high 18 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
•Junior transfer forward Wilguens Jr. Exacte added 13 points along with four rebounds and two steals.
•Senior transfer guard Jaehshon Thomas netted 11 points.
•Junior redshirt guard Eli Sheltar, one of two holdovers from the 2024-25 Drake team, came off the bench with six points - his most at Drake - along with a career-high three steals.
 
The Series
•This was the inaugural meeting between the schools