OMAHA, Neb.—After struggling from the floor in a recent pair of blowout losses, Drake regained its shooting touch on Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak with a 74-62 win over Creighton.
The Bulldogs (14-7, 5-4), who have made just 36.4 percent of their shots in blowout losses to Northern Iowa and Missouri State, hit 12 of their first 18 field-goal attempts to rally from a 6-point halftime deficit.
Drake also held the Bluejays to a season-low 30 percent from the floor, including 23 percent in the second half, while grabbing a season-high 48 rebounds.
“Our team hasn’t played very good basketball for the past two games,” Drake coach Mark Phelps said. “It was important for us today to play better at both ends of the floor, and I thought we did that. I thought our guys competed extremely hard.”
Craig Stanley and Josh Young led four Drake players in double figures with 16 points each. But it was three straight baskets by Jonathan Cox early in the second half that began the Bulldog surge.
Drake, which also got a career-high 15 points from reserve John Michael Hall, outscored Creighton (15-5, 5-4) 24-7 over a 10-minute stretch in the second to lead by 14. The Bulldogs has trailed by 9 early in the game.
“One of our biggest struggles, as of late, has been shooting the ball,” said Young, who scored 11 points during the decisive stretch. “Eventually, the shots are going to fall. We just had to keep putting them up.”
Creighton hit its first four shots from the floor and led 35-29 at the break after finishing the first half with a 7-point flurry. The Jays hit 6 of 12 shots from 3-point range before the intermission but then went cold from long range in the second half.
Unable to penetrate against the Drake defense, Creighton settled for shots from the outside after halftime, which helped the Bulldogs rally for the win. The Jays, who attempted a season-high 33 3-pointers, were just 4 of 21 from beyond the arc after halftime.
“Our inability to get the ball inside made us way too perimeter-oriented,” Creighton coach Dana Altman said. “And then we couldn’t hit shots.”
P’Allen Stinnett and Booker Woodfox each had 15 points to pace the Jays, who shot only 30 percent from the floor.
