DES MOINES, Iowa ? Indiana State won its first Missouri Valley Conference road game of the season in the state of Iowa against UNI and was looking for similar results on Wednesday night in Des Moines against Drake.  The Sycamores (3-12, 1-3 MVC) out-rebounded the Bulldogs (12-4, 3-1 MVC) by a margin of 41-28 and put back 15 second-chance points, but 16 costly turnovers and key three-pointers by Drake shooters gave the Bulldogs a 69-50 win at the Knapp Center.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before a three-pointer from Harry Marshall knotted the score at 3-3 just a 1:30 into the contest.  Josh Young was then fouled while attempting a three-pointer and made each of his three free throws to put Drake back up 6-3.  That lead would later grow to six points before a jumper by Isiah Martin cut the score to 12-8 in favor of the Bulldogs.

After a Jonathan Cox jumper made the score 14-8, Martin connected once again in the paint to bring the lead back to four points.  Drake's Brent Heemskerk and Josh Parker then made back-to-back layups to give the Bulldogs an eight-point lead, before Martin answered once again with a thunderous dunk off a missed shot to make the score 18-12.  Adam Templeton then hit a three-pointer for Drake to extend the lead to nine points, before Martin scored his fourth-consecutive basket to bring the score to 21-14 with 8:06 left in the half.

Drake continued to control the game and eventually widened its lead to 10 points at 31-21 after another trey from Templeton.  Aaron Carter came right back and answered with a three-pointer of his own to cut the lead to 31-24 with a 1:04 remaining for ISU and Jay Tunnell added a jumper as time expired to cut the Drake lead to just five points at the half 31-26.

After the break, Drake widened its lead to nine points at 38-29 at the 15:53 mark after Cox converted on a traditional three-point play.  However, Carl Richard answered with three points of his own as he was fouled while making a layup and hit a free throw to cut the lead to 38-32.  A jumper from Martin then cut the lead to just four points for the Sycamores at 38-34, which forced Drake head coach Mark Phelps to burn a 30 second timeout. 

The Bulldogs came out of that timeout and scored five-straight points to extend the lead to 43-34 with 10:59 left in the game and eventually widened the lead to 12 points at 48-36 after a three-pointer by Josh Young.  Richard answered with a layup and Tunnell made two free throws to cut the lead to 48-40 with 8:34 remaining for the Sycamores.

The two squads then traded buckets and two free throws by Richard kept the deficit at 54-45 with 6:13 remaining for the Sycamores.  However, that would be as close as ISU would get for the rest of the game as the Bulldogs closed the game on a 15-5 run to come away with a 69-50 victory over the Sycamores.

Martin finished with a season-high 12 points to lead the way for the Sycamores, while Richard chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds.  Tunnell recorded his first double-digit rebounding effort of the season with 10 boards and just missed out on his fifth-career double-double by finishing with nine points.

Craig Stanley led four Drake players in double figures with 15 points and Young finished with a double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Templeton finished with 12 points while Cox rounded out the scoring with 10 points for the Bulldogs.

Indiana State returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 10, against Illinois State on SERVPRO Fan Appreciation Day at Hulman Center.  Tip off is set for 7 p.m. ET on Nellie and John Wooden Court. 

Tickets purchased by SERVPRO will be distributed at no charge to fans from the Hulman Center Ticket Office during normal office hours (Monday ? Friday, 8:00 ? 4:30 p.m.). Fans who want a block of 20 or more tickets should call ticket office in advance to reserve their tickets at 812-237-3737.