Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Brenton Scott posted a career-high 21 points but the Sycamores dropped their first conference matchup of the season with an 84-78 defeat at the hands of Drake inside the Knapp Center.
The Sycamores saw a five-game winning streak snapped to drop to 9-9, 5-1 MVC while Drake improved to 4-14, 1-5 MVC.
Scott hit four 3-pointers in scoring his career-best 21 points. Khristian Smith and Devonte Brown each added 16 points while Justin Gant added 10. The Sycamores hit 49.1 percent of their shots from the field, including 10 3-pointers, but the Bulldogs were hot all game long as they connected on 12 3-pointers and 24 free throws.
Jake Kitchell scored first for the Sycamores in the second half to take a one-point lead at 41-40. Gary Ricks, Jr., hit Drake's ninth 3-pointer of the game but a pair of free throws from Devonte Brown as well as consecutive 3-pointers by Brenton Scott ignited an 8-0 run and gave the Sycamores a 49-43 advantage at the 17:46 mark which forced Drake to burn a timeout.
Scott would make his third trifecta of the second half with 15:38 remaining to stake the Sycamores to a 52-44 advantage -- its largest of the game to that point. But the Sycamores would not score again until the Bulldogs rattled off 11 in a row when Khristian Smith hit a jumper with just over 11 minutes remaining to cut the Drake lead down to 55-54. Drake answered with a pair of free throws and Smith scored again in the paint with a one-handed floater to get within a point.
Indiana State was able to take advantage of a pair of Karl Madison free throw misses when Kitchell scored down low with 9:24 on the clock to give the Sycamores a 58-57 lead. Madison hit his next two attempts at the charity stripe, but a driving reverse lay-up from Alex Etherington as the clock ticked towards eight minutes remaining staked Indiana State to the 60-59 lead. Then after a defensive stop, Devonte Brown hit a lay-up plus the foul with 7:41 on the clock to give the Sycamores a 3-point lead. The free throw was good and the Sycamore lead stood at 63-59.
The Bulldogs countered with four points in a row, until Brown's lay-up with 6:23 remaining pushed the Sycamores head 65-63. On the return trip down the floor, Kitchell was whistled for his fourth foul and the score was knotted at the free throw line. Then at the 5:46 mark, Smith hit a pair of free throws after he fouled at the top of the key to put the Sycamores ahead 67-65. Once again free throws leveled the score, but Smith's floater in the paint with just over five minutes to go forged the Sycamores ahead 69-67.
Drake regained the lead with their 11th 3-pointer of the game with 4:53 to go, but the two teams traded defensive stops as the Sycamores forced a shot clock violation to send the game into the final media timeout. The shot clock wound down on the Sycamores but Devonte Brown hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key with 2:57 on the clock to put the Sycamores ahead by two. The same pattern continued as Drake tied the game and Gant pushed the Sycamores ahead with a jumper in the paint. Jordan Daniels only hit one free throw in this exchange to keep the Sycamores ahead by a point.
The Sycamores would come up empty on their next two possessions, and Drake answered with a 3-pointer from Caird for the 76-74 lead. The two teams traded free throws and the Sycamores drew within 78-76. An apparent five second violation was reversed and the Bulldogs hit both charity tosses for the four-point margin. Drake finished the game out perfect from the free throw line with the 84-78 victory.
The Sycamores scored the first five points of the first half on a jumper by Khristian Smith which was followed by a 3-pointer from Justin Gant. Indiana State would use a 3-pointer from Alex Etherington and then a jumper from Gant at the 10:47 mark to take its largest lead before halftime at 19-12.
It took the Sycamores two and half minutes to go score their next point and during that short time the Bulldogs heated up on a 9-0 run which gave them a 21-19 advantage. Kitchell's free throw was the only Indiana State score during what would become a 17-1 run and Drake held a 29-20 advantage with 6:13 on the clock. Smith would stop the Bulldog run and started a late half Sycamore push which continued with Brenton Scott's trifecta with 5:10 remaining to cut the deficit down to just four points.
Jacob Enevold established a six-point lead, but Brenton Scott answered with a conventional 3-point play as the clock ticked under four minutes to get the Sycamores within one possession. The Bulldogs used a pair of charity tosses to move ahead by five, but Tre' Bennett hit a driving lay-up and Etherington connected on his second triple of first half to level the score at 33 with 2:56 on the clock.
A pair of Devonte Brown free throws with 43 seconds remaining gave the Sycamores a lead at 39-37, but Chris Caird hit a trifecta with 13 seconds showing to send the Bulldogs into the locker room with a 40-39 advantage. Scott led the Sycamores with 10 points at the break while Drake made eight 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.
Indiana State remains on the road for its next game when they travel to Northern Iowa on Wednesday, January 21. Tip-off is set for 8:05 p.m. (ET) and will be televised on both the MVC TV Network as well as ESPN3.
