Drake basketball takes down Indiana State for 2nd straight win

The Drake men’s basketball team earned its second consecutive win on Saturday, Jan. 24, defeating Indiana State, 76-62, inside the Hulman Center.

The Bulldogs (11-10, 5-5 MVC) 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 3-pointers to spark the Drake offense.

Meanwhile, the Drake defense forced five turnovers by the first media timeout, which 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 pull-up 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.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake basketball takes down Indiana State for 2nd straight win