PEORIA, Ill. – Tucker DeVries scored a game-high 20 points as the Drake University men’s basketball team fell to Bradley by a final score of 68-59 at Carver Arena on Saturday night.
“We have some things that we need to figure out as a coaching staff and as a team,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “We have to be better offensively and figure out how to get better ball movement so we can get players in better positions.”
Drake took a 14-13 lead with 8:58 left in the opening half on a Roman Penn floater. Both teams exchanged baskets until Tucker DeVries drilled a jumper from the charity stripe for a 27-25 advantage with 1:03 left before halftime.
Zek Montgomery answered with a wing triple in the final minute as Bradley led 28-27 at the break.
ShanQuan Hemphill got downhill and converted a driving layup four minutes into the second half for a 36-35 Drake advantage.
Rienk Mast got hot from beyond the arc to help the Braves pull away. Mast connected on back-to-back treys at the 10:33 and 10:12 minute marks to put Bradley ahead 50-42.
Tucker DeVries put down a 2-handed slam dunk as the Bulldogs were within seven points (53-46) with 8:21 to go.
“I thought Tucker did a nice job,” DeVries said. “He let everything come to him and able to get opportunities at the rim to keep us in it. We just didn’t have enough tonight.”
The Braves saw their largest lead (60-47) of the night with 6:12 remaining in regulation after a Ville Tahvanainen layup. The Bulldogs battled until the final whistle when the score was 68-59 in favor of the home team.
Up next on the schedule for Drake men’s basketball is Relays Night against Evansville inside the Knapp Center at 7 p.m. on Wednesday (Feb. 16).
