DES MOINES, Iowa – Jalen Quinn did everything he could to will the Drake men's basketball team to a victory. He just didn't have quite enough help.
 
The Bulldogs played from behind most of the game and had their two-game winning streak broken with a 74-69 loss to UAB at the Knapp Center on Friday night despite Quinn's 26 points and his determined play down the stretch.
 
UAB challenged Drake with an aggressive, physical defense that limited the Bulldogs to 38.7-percent shooting after they shot a torrid 69.6-percent in a 108-57 rout of Western Illinois on Tuesday night. The athletic Blazers dominated the glass in outrebounding Drake 44-30 and collected 13 offensive rebounds, which led to a 13-9 edge in second-chance points.
 
Quinn delivered his fifth game with at least 20 points and is averaging 23.5 over the last four contests. He scored 13 of Drake's final 15 points, added six rebounds and tied his career high with three steals. The senior transfer from Loyola also knocked down a season-best three 3-pointers, which matched his career high.
 
No other player reached double figures for the Bulldogs, who fell to 6-4 with three of the losses by a total of nine points. Eli Shetlar and Isaiah Carr each scored eight points, with Carr adding five rebounds and three blocks, which matched his season best. Okku Federiko, limited to 20.5 minutes because of foul trouble, and Jaehshon Thomas added six apiece for the Bulldogs.
 
UAB (7-3), which won on the road for the first time this season, did a good job limiting Braden Appelhans' looks after the redshirt junior made a school-record 10 3-pointers against Western Illinois. He went just 1-for-5 from deep in this one and 1-for-6 overall.
 
A 2-for-11 shooting start left Drake in an early six-point hole and put the Bulldogs in scramble mode the rest of the way. They tied the score twice in the first half but never led until Federiko spun around his defender for a layup to put the Bulldogs up 34-33 a little more than a minute into the second half.
 
UAB's Chance Westry erased that lead with a 3-pointer 24 seconds later and went up by four before Drake countered with its only serious run of the game, a 10-2 burst that pulled the Bulldogs into a 44-39 lead when Appelhans hit his only trey with 14:49 left.
 
The Blazers came right back with nine straight points and Drake led only once after that, 49-48, when Shetlar found Carr for a layup with 11:38 to play. Six straight points returned the momentum to UAB, but the Bulldogs didn't go away, pulling to a tie at 56 – the seventh time the score was knotted – on Quinn's two free throws with 8:05 to go.
 
UAB then built its lead back to six and stayed ahead despite Quinn's late surge, sinking six of eight free throws in the final 65 seconds to wrap it up.
 
Westry's 17 points led UAB, which outscored Drake 21-12 on free throws. The Blazers' 14-rebound advantage was the Bulldogs' largest deficit on the boards this season.
 
"Certainly disappointed again with the outcome," Drake head coach Eric Henderson said. "Congrats to UAB. They played really well. They were able to get to the foul line, attacked the basket. We just weren't physical enough without fouling and at the end of the day that's probably what caught is in the glass, certainly in the second half. When you give them that many more chances it makes it hard, but we'll keep fighting and we'll get better. I can guarantee you that."
 
Drake has the next week off and will return to action against North Dakota State at the Knapp Center at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13.
 
Team Notes
—Drake, which had a two-game winning streak snapped, fell to 6-4, including a 3-3 home record.
—There were seven ties and six lead changes in the game.
—Drake took its first lead of the game – 34-33 - on a spin move in the pain by Okku Federiko with 18:58 left in the second half.
—Drake shot 38.7 percent (24-62) from the floor – its second worse shooting percentage in a home game this season.
—UAB outrebounded Drake, 44-30, marking the Bulldogs widest rebounding deficit this season.
 
Player Notes
—Guard Jaden Quinn led Drake with 26 points – his fifth 20-plus scoring game of the season.  Quinn scored 13 of Drake's last 15 points. Quinn also tied a career high with three steals, while setting a season high with three three-point baskets.
—Transfer guard Braden Appelhans, coming off a school-record 10 three-point basket performance against Western Illinois, missed his first three three-point shot attempts of the game before making a trey with 14:50 left in the game to give Drake a 44-39 lead. He tied a season low with five three-point shots.
 —Okku Federiko picked up his second foul with 12:34 left in the first half and did not play the remainder of the period. He picked up his third foul with 12:32 left in the game and returned to the Drake bench.
 —Sophomore transfer guard Owen Larson, made his Drake debut, coming off the bench at the 16:29 mark in the first half. He made his first basket – a three-pointer – with 12:08 left in the game to pull Drake within 48-47.
 
The Series
—UAB improved its series record to 2-0 against Drake. This was the first meeting between the schools since Dec. 22, 2023