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Drake Men Hold Home Court in Big 4 Battle Against ISU

Sports

November 16th, 2011 by admin

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ben Simons scored 24 points and Drake handed Iowa State its first loss of the season, beating the visiting Cyclones 74-65 on Tuesday night.

Rayvonte Rice added 18 points for the Bulldogs (2-0), who snapped a two-game losing streak to Iowa State that included a 91-43 defeat in Ames a year ago.

The Cyclones trailed by as much as 10 with 2:27 left, but Chris Babb’s 3-pointer a minute later cut the deficit to 66-63.

Simons responded with a floater and a pair of free throws sandwiched around a missed 3 by Babb, pushing the Bulldogs ahead by seven with 22 seconds left.

Royce White had his second straight double-double, compiling 21 points and 14 rebounds, to lead Iowa State (1-1).

Iowa State trailed by single digits to open the second half and it took nearly eight minutes for the Cyclones to grab the lead. Chris Babb’s pull-up 3-point shot put Iowa State up 44-43 with 12:26 left, drawing loud cheers from the sizable contingent of Cyclones fans who made the 35-mile trip to Des Moines.

But a game that had lacked flow from both sides suddenly found some, primarily from the Bulldogs.

Rayvonte Rice, who spent considerable time on the bench with three fouls, came back with seven straight points to put the Bulldogs up 56-50. Simons’s fourth 3-pointer of the night made it 59-52 with 5:27 left, and Karl Madison’s 3-point play and layup put Drake’s lead at 64-56 with just 2:43 left.

Babb and Tyrus McGee each added 10 points for the Cyclones, who shot just 36.8 percent from the field.