Dramatic ‘First Four’ Win

Dramatic ‘First Four’ Win

(St. Louis, MO) – After watching the ebb and flow of Drake’s ‘First Four’ win over Wichita State, all you can say is ‘resilient Drake moves on’. During a game that frankly was more ‘Peanuts’ than Picasso the Bulldogs survived to play Southern California on Saturday.

Drake trailed by double digits in both halves of their NCAA Tournament game, only to finish with a flurry during the closing minutes of each stanza. A 10-0 run finished the first half and brought the Bulldogs to a 21-20 deficit.

After shooting two for eleven in the opening seven minutes of the second half they found themselves down double digits again. Darnell Brodie was in foul trouble, they were being out rebounded and chances for victory were slipping away.

Coach Darian DeVries was imploring his players to keep defending, because he knew their offense would get untracked. Drake scored 33 second-half points to prevail 53-52 behind 14 second half points by Joseph Yesufu, nine from Tremell Murphy and seven from Brodie.

How It Finished

With 11:24 to go, Brodie took a seat with his fourth foul and the team trailing by 12 points (37-25). Murphy started making bombs, Yesufu had the ball in his hand every play and the Bulldogs cut into the Shocker lead.

By the time Brodie returned (5:11 left) the deficit had been cut to a single point (45-44). He made immediate impact. A defensive rebound at one end and a lay-up at the other and the Bulldogs had the lead. After a Morris Udeze jumper gave Wichita State the lead, Murphy drilled his third triple of the second half to give the Bulldogs a lead they would never surrender.

At 49-47 the DU defense forced a turnover and a Brodie jumper near the end of a shot clock and Drake had their biggest lead of the game at 51-47. Yesufu made a pair of dramatic free throws with 21 seconds left and resilient Drake held on as Alterique Gilbert’s buzzer beating triple fell just short.

Hidden in the game was the brilliant defense by D.J. Wilkins. The junior guard held Tyson Etienne, Wichita State’s leading scorer (17 per game) to one free throw. DeVries noted that Wilkins has been their best defender all season and called his work against Etienne ‘awesome’.

ShanQuan Hemphill returned to action and played ten minutes. Eight were in the first half. DeVries saying his foot tightened up on him at half time.

Drake’s last NCAA Tournament win was 50 years ago. Now resilient Drake moves on.

Do Good

 

Editor: Feature photo courtesy of 2021 NCAA Photos.