DES MOINES, Iowa – A game filled with highlights and sharp shooting ended in disappointment for the Drake men's basketball team.
 
Sam Orme's layup with four-tenths of a second left gave Belmont a 78-76 victory at the Knapp Center on Saturday night after the Bulldogs led by 25 early in the second half. It was the Bruins' first-ever victory in Des Moines and spoiled a career night for Drake's Eli Shetlar and outstanding efforts by teammates Owen Larson and Isaiah Carr.
 
Larson's pull-up jumper from just inside the free throw line tied the score at 76 with 17 seconds left, shortly after Drake had given up the lead for the first time in the game. The Bruins then played for the final shot and got what they wanted, Tyler Lundblade finding Orme cutting to the basket for the game winner.
 
But for the longest time, it was Shetlar's game. The 6-foot-6 redshirt sophomore scored a career-high 26 points, knocking down a career-best eight 3-pointers in 12 attempts and finishing 9-for-13 overall. The nine field goals also were a career best.
 
Larson, who followed coach Eric Henderson from South Dakota State, had his best game as a Bulldog with 17 points. He matched his career high with four 3-pointers – he had been 3-for-20 from distance coming in – and added four assists, three rebounds and a steal.
 
Carr, the 7-foot transfer from Denver, saw his most extensive playing time since the season opener against Northern Arizona (17:55) and delivered, totaling 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Jaehshon Thomas and Jalen Quinn each scored eight points, with Quinn adding six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
 
Drake (8-9, 2-4 Missouri Valley Conference) led 44-25 at halftime behind Shetlar's 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting and doubled the score on the Bruins, 50-25, on back-to-back triples from Larson.  The Bulldogs had held Belmont – the best shooting team in the league – to 2-for-20 from deep in the opening half. But the Bruins (15-3, 5-2) eventually found their stroke and roared back.
 
The Drake lead was still at 25 after a Shetlar trey at the 17:18 mark and the Bulldogs led 58-36 when Thomas buried a deep three with a defender in his face with 14:36 remaining. Thomas was called for a technical foul as he turned to go back on defense and that's when the game turned.
 
Lundblade sank both free throws from the technical and the Bruins followed with six 3-point baskets in a 24-3 run that cut the lead to 61-60. The Bulldogs had cooled but still made enough shots to keep the lead, and they were up 74-71 when Larson converted an old-fashioned three-point play off a driving layup with 2:46 remaining.
 
Three Belmont free throws tied it and the Bruins took their first lead of the game, 76-74, on Drew Scharnowski's layup at the 1:43 mark.  Larson then tied it with his bucket, setting the stage for the heartbreak that followed.
 
It was all Drake in the first half, much to the delight of the crowd of 3,657. Shetlar knocked down three 3-pointners and Quinn tossed in another as the Bulldogs rocketed to a 12-0 lead while Belmont missed its first seven shots and turned it over four times. Nearly five minutes elapsed before the Bruins finally made a shot.
 
Andrew Alia's hustling steal and layup made it 17-4, Okku Federiko's triple from the left corner stretched the lead to 22-7 and the Bulldogs kept adding to it as Belmont continued to misfire. A 15-2 run capped by Shetlar's sixth trey of the half put Drake up 37-16 and when the Bruins sliced the lead to 14 with under 2 minutes in the half, the Bulldogs rattled off the final five points of the period for its 44-25 lead, Quinn finishing things off with a steal and layup.
 
Drake shot 50 percent in the first half and finished the game at 43.9 percent with 17 3-pointers , its second highest figure of the season.  The Bulldogs' 38 shots from distance were the most of the season and they managed only 12 points in the paint.
 
Belmont came in shooting 51.9 percent and shot 60 percent in a victory at Northern Iowa earlier this week. The Bruins struggled throughout the first half, however, and ended the period shooting 23.5 percent and trailing at halftime for only the third time this season. But they shot 55 percent in the second half, including 9-for-17 from distance.
 
Lundblade led Belmont with 15 points and Eoin Dillon scored 14 for the Bruins, who had been 0-3 at the Knapp Center.
 
Drake goes back out on the road for its next two games, playing at Southern Illinois on Wednesday, Jan. 14 and at UIC on Saturday, Jan. 17. The next home game is Murray State on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

Team Notes
—Sam Orme's layup with 0.4 seconds left broke a 76-76 tie as Belmont rallied from a 25-point deficit.
—Drake slipped to 8-9 overall including a 2-4 record in the Missouri Valley Conference.
—Drake is 2-1 in three Missouri Valley Conference games determined by two or less points
—The Bulldogs are 4-5 at home, suffering their third loss by two points: 81-79 Robert Morris (overtime), 61-59 SIUE, 78-76 Belmont.
—Drake shot 43.9 percent from the floor (25-57), including 50 percent (14-28) in the first half.
—There was one lead change and four ties in the game.
—Three days after scoring a season-low 19 points at Bradley, Drake tallied 44 points in the first half en route to a 44-25 halftime lead. But Drake was outscored 53-32 in the second half.
—Drake owned its biggest lead of the game at 50-25 and 53-28 following three-point baskets from Owen Larson and Eli Shetlar, respectively.
—Belmont grabbed its first lead of the game at 76-74 with 1:43 left following a basket by Drew Scharnowksi.
—Drake made 17 three-point baskets, falling to 3-3 when making 10-plus three-point baskets in a game.
—The Bulldogs had a season-high 38 three-point shots.
—Drake forced Belmont into 14 turnovers, more than doubling its season low of six against UNI last Wednesday.
 
Player Notes
—Eli Shetlar, making just his fourth start of the season, led Drake with a career-high 26 points (20 in the first half), including a career-high eight three-point baskets.
—Transfer guard Owen Larson scored a season high 17 points, while tying a career high with four three-point baskets. Larson had 15 points in his combined previous four games entering tonight. Larson was three of 20 beyond the three-point arc entering the game before making four of 10 three-point shots tonight.
—Senior forward Isaiah Carr came off the bench scoring a season-high 12 points, including nine in the first half. That surpassed his total of eight points in his previous combined five games.
—Carr also tied a season high with three blocked shots.
—Carr, junior guard Andrew Alia and senior guard Jalen Quinn led the Bulldogs with six rebounds apiece.
—Quinn and Larson led Drake with four assists apiece.
—Wilguens Jr. Exacte, who had started in 13 games, missed his third consecutive game because of a foot injury.
 
The Series
—Drake had a three-game winning streak against Belmont snapped, but the Bulldogs still lead the all-time series, 5-3.
—This marked Belmont's first win ever in Des Moines in four trips.