DES MOINES, Iowa  – There was no quit in the Indiana State Sycamores as they countered several Drake runs but the Bulldogs had the last spurt and the Sycamores ran out of time in falling 80-76 to the Drake Bulldogs in front of 3,490 fans inside the Knapp Center.
 
The Sycamores saw their eight-game winning streak snapped to fall to 8-5, 1-1 MVC while Drake rebounded from a MVC opening loss at Illinois State to improve to 11-4, 1-1 MVC. Indiana State's eight-game winning streak was the program's longest since an 8-0 start to the season in 2005-06.
 
Freshman Jake LaRavia paced the Sycamores with a career-high 21 points as he went 9-of-12 from the field and also posted six rebounds. ISU placed four scorers in double digits including 19 from Tyreke Key who also led the team with eight rebounds, 15 by Jordan Barnes and 14 more from freshman Tre Williams. Williams has now reached double figures scoring in five consecutive contests.
 
Indiana State held a 30-27 edge in the rebounding battle and were 28-of-54 from the field (51.9 percent). ISU was 6-of-18 from 3-point range (33.3 percent) while Drake also owned a 51.9 percent mark from the field (27-of-52) and were 10-of-21 from distance (47.6 percent).
 
The Sycamores scored 42 of their points in the paint during the game while Drake held a slim 19-15 edge in points off turnovers.
 
Drake ran their second half lead out to 55-44 on a pair of free throws from Anthony Murphy, but LaRavia stopped the bleeding with a lay-up in the paint to whittle the lead down to nine points. After Drake retook a double digit lead before Barnes drained a triple and Key came back off a Bulldog turnover to dunk the ball and the Sycamore deficit was only 57=51 with 14:32 remaining.
 
Key was fouled on a 3-point attempt on the Sycamores' next trip and he hit them all to draw within 57-54. Drake owned a quick spurt capped by a DJ Wilkins 3-pointer with 12:30 on the clock to run their lead back out to 64-54.
 
Indiana State would not go away as Key hit a pair of free throws, LaRavia scored on the fast break as did Tre Williams and LaRavia scored again in the paint off the Tre Williams steal to make it 64-62 with 10:33 remaining. After the 8-0 run, Tre Williams had a steal but Key's 3-pointer to take the lead was just short. Drake would run their advantage back out to seven points before Tre Williams scored inside on consecutive possessions to make it 71-68 with 7:29 remaining.
 
Jordan Barnes hit a fast break lay-up to draw within a point and then LaRavia did the same again to draw within 75-74 with 4:33 remaining. But Drake would score the game's next five points before Key hit a pair of free throws with 42 seconds left to make it 80-76. Drake would come up empty on two possessions, including missing a pair of free throws with four seconds left but Key missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to allow the Bulldogs to escape with their 12^th consecutive home victory.
 
The Sycamores and Bulldogs traded lay-ups on each team's first possession with Tre Williams scoring first for Indiana State to knot the game at 2. An early 7-0 Drake run was answered by a Jordan Barnes jumper but the Bulldogs came back with six points on their next two trips to take a 15-4 lead. Tyreke Key drilled a 3-pointer and Jake LaRavia scored inside to trim the Drake lead down to 15-9 with 14:11 remaining.
 
Indiana State enjoyed a 7-0 run capped by a Barnes 3-pointer with 10:31 on the clock to give the Sycamores their first lead of the contest at 20-19. Key and Barnes kept pace for the Sycamores with 3-pointers on consecutive trips as they trailed 29-26. Drake's lead would return to double digits with an 8-0 run but Tre Williams scored inside with just over a minute to go and then grabbed a big offensive rebound with time running down where he found Cooper Neese for a 3-pointer as the half expired to send the Sycamores down only 49-41 at the break. Jordan Barnes and Jake LaRavia led ISU with 10 points each at the break.
 
Drake placed five scorers in double digits including 16 each from DJ Wilkins and Roman Penn.
 
The Sycamores continue their two-game road swing through the state of Iowa with a matchup against the Northern Iowa Panthers on Tuesday, January 7 in Cedar Falls. Tip-off on ESPN+ is set for 8:00 p.m. (ET).