Trailing 46-35 early in the second half Drake’s winning streak appeared to be in jeopardy at Illinois State. But as they have done so often this season the 15th ranked Bulldogs rallied with a 17-2 run to take the lead for good then held on for a heart stopping 73-70 victory and are now on the doorstep of a Missouri Valley Conference title.
The game not decided until the Redbird’s Levi Dyer missed a long three pointer in the final seconds. Drake coach Keno Davis on his post game show on KRNT, says defense had been a big part of this team, but they gave up 55% shooting. He credits the Redbirds with being a tough team to shut down, but says his team still found a way to win.
Josh Young had 17 of his 18 points in the second half to help lead the comeback and Leonard Houston led the bulldogs with 22 points and Davis says his team found another way to win a game. Davis says they can win with their defense, their rebounding or their offense, but tonight he thinks it was heart. "I don’t think I’ve seen our team play as hard for that stretch of the last 15 minutes of the game as we did tonight, so I couldn’t be prouder," Davis says.
The win was their 20th straight and the Bulldogs are now 21-1 overall. They stand 12-0 in the Valley and now have a four game lead with six games to play.