Tuesday, January 8
Des Moines, Iowa
7 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
9-7 (2-1MVC)
70
at
82
Drake
12-4 (1-2MVC)
1
2
F
SIU
22
48
70
Drake
43
39
82
Big first half pushes Drake past SIU
01/08/2019 | 10:00:00 | Men's Basketball
DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake men's basketball team shot 58.6 percent from the field in the first half, including 8-of-16 3-pointers, en route to an 82-70 win over Southern Illinois on Tuesday night at Knapp Center. The Bulldogs were up by 21 at halftime and scored 39 points in the second half to hold off an SIU rally.
SIU (9-7, 2-1 MVC) was three days removed from holding Northern Iowa to 31.5 percent from the field, but Drake (12-4, 1-2 MVC) hit four of its first five shots to immediately jump out to a 10-0 lead less than four minutes into the game. Southern's offense struggled to get started, scoring just nine points in the game's first 14 minutes, and Drake led by as many as 26 points in the first half.
"The game was lost in the first five minutes," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. "We dug ourselves a hole. We knew we would get their best shot, and we certainly did. At the start of the game, they really took it to us."
Once Southern got its offense started, it really rolled, scoring 61 points in the game's final 26 minutes. SIU scored 48 points in the second half and came all the way back to get within nine at one point, but Drake had enough offense to fend off the rally, scoring 39 points on 50 percent shooting in the second half. The start of the second half proved critical--SIU went 8-for-11 from the field in the first 6-and-a-half minutes, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point line, yet made up only three points in the deficit because Drake went 7-for-10 from the field in that same stretch.
"There's only one thing encouraging from tonight. This reminded me of UMass; it reminded me of Murray State. But in those games, we didn't try to compete in the second half. We just laid down. Tonight, at least we made some efforts to compete," Hinson said.
SIU was led by 21 points from Armon Fletcher, who returned to the lineup after a six-game suspension. Fletcher went 9-of-13 from the field in 28 minutes. Eric McGill (17 points, 6 rebounds) and Kavion Pippen (12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks) joined Fletcher in double-figures. Darius Beane had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.
Drake was the Missouri Valley Conference's surprise team in the non-conference, compiling an 11-2 record after being picked ninth in the preseason poll. Star guard Nick Norton suffered a season-ending injury in Drake's MVC opener, but Noah Thomas (24 points), Nick McGlynn (19 points, 11 rebounds), DJ Wilkins (15 points), and Brady Ellingson (14 points) picked up the slack against SIU.
In a night of upsets in the MVC, two of the three 2-0 teams in the league lost. Along with SIU's loss at Drake, Loyola fell at Evansville, which leaves Valparaiso as the lone team in the league to reach 3-0 in conference play. The Crusaders come to SIU Arena on Saturday night to face the Salukis.
"If you can't be excited for a home game that if you win, you get to share first place (in the MVC), then you can't get excited to play," Hinson said. "I told myself, 'I'm not going to get too high, and I'm not going to get too low after these losses and wins.' We can't get on a roller coaster. We're going to go back, get ourselves ready for Valpo, and we know if we win that game, we have a chance to share first place."
SIU (9-7, 2-1 MVC) was three days removed from holding Northern Iowa to 31.5 percent from the field, but Drake (12-4, 1-2 MVC) hit four of its first five shots to immediately jump out to a 10-0 lead less than four minutes into the game. Southern's offense struggled to get started, scoring just nine points in the game's first 14 minutes, and Drake led by as many as 26 points in the first half.
"The game was lost in the first five minutes," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. "We dug ourselves a hole. We knew we would get their best shot, and we certainly did. At the start of the game, they really took it to us."
Once Southern got its offense started, it really rolled, scoring 61 points in the game's final 26 minutes. SIU scored 48 points in the second half and came all the way back to get within nine at one point, but Drake had enough offense to fend off the rally, scoring 39 points on 50 percent shooting in the second half. The start of the second half proved critical--SIU went 8-for-11 from the field in the first 6-and-a-half minutes, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point line, yet made up only three points in the deficit because Drake went 7-for-10 from the field in that same stretch.
"There's only one thing encouraging from tonight. This reminded me of UMass; it reminded me of Murray State. But in those games, we didn't try to compete in the second half. We just laid down. Tonight, at least we made some efforts to compete," Hinson said.
SIU was led by 21 points from Armon Fletcher, who returned to the lineup after a six-game suspension. Fletcher went 9-of-13 from the field in 28 minutes. Eric McGill (17 points, 6 rebounds) and Kavion Pippen (12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks) joined Fletcher in double-figures. Darius Beane had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.
Drake was the Missouri Valley Conference's surprise team in the non-conference, compiling an 11-2 record after being picked ninth in the preseason poll. Star guard Nick Norton suffered a season-ending injury in Drake's MVC opener, but Noah Thomas (24 points), Nick McGlynn (19 points, 11 rebounds), DJ Wilkins (15 points), and Brady Ellingson (14 points) picked up the slack against SIU.
In a night of upsets in the MVC, two of the three 2-0 teams in the league lost. Along with SIU's loss at Drake, Loyola fell at Evansville, which leaves Valparaiso as the lone team in the league to reach 3-0 in conference play. The Crusaders come to SIU Arena on Saturday night to face the Salukis.
"If you can't be excited for a home game that if you win, you get to share first place (in the MVC), then you can't get excited to play," Hinson said. "I told myself, 'I'm not going to get too high, and I'm not going to get too low after these losses and wins.' We can't get on a roller coaster. We're going to go back, get ourselves ready for Valpo, and we know if we win that game, we have a chance to share first place."
Team Stats
SIU
DU
FG%
.460
.547
3FG%
.316
.520
FT%
.500
.786
RB
30
32
TO
13
17
STL
9
4
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
9
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
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