TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Drake men's basketball team earned its second consecutive win on Saturday afternoon defeating the Indiana State Sycamores, 76-62, inside the Hulman Center.
 
The Bulldogs were out to a fast start and grabbed an early 12-4 advantage with Owen Larson continuing his stellar play after tying a career-high 22 points against Murray State the last time out. The sophomore connected on his first three shots of the game, which included a pair of three-balls, to spark the Drake offense.
 
Meanwhile, the Drake defense forced five turnovers by the first media timeout that led to nine points mainly converted by Jalen Quinn in transition.
 
A cold spell, however, eventually fell over the Drake offense with a scoring drought of over three minutes and a shooting span that saw the Bulldogs go 1-of-12 from the field. That allowed Indiana State to cut its deficit down to just one, 19-18, with 7:25 left in the half.
 
Following a string of three makes to build their lead back up to five, another lull hit the Bulldogs on the offensive end. Despite Drake ending the half on another scoring draught, this one of over five minutes, it went into the halftime break leading 26-24.
 
Larson and Quinn carried the load for the Bulldogs in the first half combining for 21 of Drake's 26. The rest of the Bulldogs managed to go just 2-for-18 from the field leading to a field goal percentage of 30-percent over the first 20 minutes of play.
 
At the start of the second half, Quinn provided an offensive burst for Drake and scored nine points in just under five minutes of play. Okku Federiko chipped in with five points as well, converting an and-one opportunity, but for every Drake bucket, Indiana State answered keeping it a close contest.
 
The lead changed hands a couple of different times leading up to the under-eight media timeout, but by the time the break came Drake held a four-point lead, 54-50, following a floater banked home off the glass by Andrew Alia.
 
With 6:04 remaining Drake went on a pivotal 10-2 run to finally gain some slight separation from the Sycamores. Larson and Alia connected on back-to-back triples to start the spurt followed by a pullup jumper by Quinn and two free throws from Alia stretching the Bulldog lead to 64-55.
 
The Bulldogs carried that momentum down the stretch, fended off the late pressure from Indiana State, and rode the free throw line to secure the win.
 
"We're making strides," Drake head coach Eric Henderson said. "This team has grown a lot. I'm just really proud of them and to be able to continue to bounce back. Today we got off to such a great start and had a little bit of lag at the end of the half. We were really struggling scoring the basketball. It was kind of a clunky game there for a little while, but it got a little more fluid in the second half and we put the pedal to the floor."
 
Drake will return to Des Moines for its next game and will host Evansville from the Knapp Center on Wednesday, Jan. 28. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT.
 
Team Notes
—Drake, winning its second straight game, improved its overall record to 11-10 including a 5-5 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference.
—The Bulldogs are 4-3 in road games.
—There were eight lead changes in the game.
—Drake shot 41.9 percent from the floor (26-62), including 57.7 percent (15-26) in the second half. It marked the second straight game the Bulldogs had shot 50 percent or better in the second half after hitting 55.2 percent (16-29) in the second half against Murray State.
—Drake closed out the game making five of its last six shots in the final 6:04.
—Drake outrebounded Indiana State, 39-38, to improve to 7-2 when outrebounding opponents this season.
—The Bulldogs owned a 15-4 advantage in fast break points.
—Drake collected 11 steals, marking the fourth game this season it reached double figures in that department.
—Drake used an 11-0 run, to break away from a 57-55 lead sparked by five points from Andrew Alia and four points from Jalen Quinn.
—Drake improved to 8-1 when leading at halftime pulling away from a 26-24 halftime lead.
 
Player Notes
—Senior transfer guard Jalen Quinn enjoyed his 10th 20-plus scoring game of the season, leading Drake with 27 points—18 in the second half.
—It marked Quinn's fourth straight 20-plus scoring game. He is averaging 27.5 points during that stretch: 21 at Southern Illinois, 28 at UIC, 34 vs. Murray State, 27 at Indiana State.
—Sophomore transfer guard Owen Larson recorded his second straight 20-plus scoring game with 21 points, including 12 in the first half. He had 22 points in victory against Murray State Wednesday.
—Larson also led Drake with seven rebounds and four assists.
—Larson (12) and Quinn (9) combined for 21 of Drake's 26 points in the first half, while the rest of the Drake team made just two of 18 shots. In Drake's 101-90 home victory against Murray State Wednesday Quinn (17) and Larson (15) combined for 32 of Drake's 44 points in the first half, while the rest of the Drake team made just two of 12 shots.
—Senior transfer forward Isaiah Carr came off the bench grabbing six rebounds in 18 minutes.
—Wilguens Jr. Exacte, who had started in 13 games, missed his seventh consecutive game because of a foot injury.
 
The Series
—Drake, winning its fifth straight game against the Sycamores, improved its record in the overall series to 55-49 including an 18-34 mark in games played in Terre Haute. This matched the longest winning streak in the series history for the Bulldogs.