The Drake University men’s basketball team won a back-and-forth contest and fended off Illinois State in an 89-88 overtime decision at Redbird Arena on Wednesday.
“This was a unique one,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “I thought both teams had hard times getting stops. We feel very fortunate after missing some free throws down the stretch. We missed some opportunities, but when we needed to we made some big plays.”
Garrett Sturtz made a shifty move underneath for a layup early in the first half with 15:36 left and only half a minute later, Tucker DeVries buried a triple for a 14-4 lead. Illinois State responded with a 15-0 run capped off by a Kendall Lewis driving layup as the Bulldogs found themselves trailing 19-14 with 11:23 remaining in the first half.
Returning after being sidelined for four games due to injury, ShanQuan Hemphill slammed an alley-oop dunk off of a pass from D.J. Wilkins with 4:03 to play in the frame and the contest even at 29 points apiece. The Redbirds pulled ahead again, but Sturtz floated a shot down from the lane to cut the deficit to a single point (38-37) at halftime.
The Redbirds built a 5-point lead (48-43) after an old-fashioned 3-point play by Kendall Lewis with 16:19 left in the second half. Hemphill was a part of a Drake rally to tie the game, 52-52 with 14:48 remaining following a hoop-and-the-harm of his own.
DeVries dished the ball to Wilkins along the right wing for his fourth made 3-pointer of the contest that put Drake ahead, 64-62 at the 8:47 mark of the second half. With 4:03 to play, the Redbirds attempted to save the ball from going out of bounds and tossed the ball right to Tucker DeVries for a dunk and 72-71 advantage.
With 1:02 left with the score all tied up, 76-76, Penn delivered another clutch shot in the form of a contested floater to put the visitors on top.
The Bulldogs led 78-77 until Antonio Reeves drove hard to the basket and converted an off-balance layup to move the Redbirds in front with 23 seconds left in regulation. Penn split at the charity stripe as the game went to overtime tied, 79-79.
Both teams exchanged baskets to begin the extra period. Sturtz knocked down a pair of free throws to push Drake back ahead 89-88 with 1:24 left. Those would be the final points of the game as both defenses were stingy and the Bulldog defense held strong as Illinois State could not score on the final possession of the contest.
Drake is scheduled to be back in action again at home against Loyola at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 30.
