Drake's men's basketball team gave up 11 straight points at the end of the game against Southern Illinois
Drake's speed gives the Bulldogs a way to score points in a hurry. But a frantic pace hurt the team at the end of Tuesday's men's basketball game.
A silent stretch — Southern Illinois scored the game's last 11 points — doomed Drake in a 78-67 defeat at the Knapp Center.
Drake led 65-64 with 5:39 left.
With 4:19 to go, Reed Timmer's layup tied the score at 67-67, but the Bulldogs didn't get another point the rest of the game.
"I think we just need to slow down a bit," Timmer said of Drake's third consecutive loss, all defeats in which the opponent had a late scoring run.
In the final 4 minutes, Drake missed all six field-goal attempts, committed three turnovers and four fouls.
"We just tried to do too much at times," Drake coach Niko Medved said.
Timmer led Drake with 22 points, which put him 10 away from breaking the school's career scoring mark. He has 1,780 points.
The teams were tied for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. Drake fell to 12-12, 6-5 in the league; Southern is 15-9, 7-4.
The Bulldogs have averaged more than 70 points a game.
"Drake has the capability of getting behind and coming back like that," Southern Illinois coach Barry Hinson said, snapping his fingers.
Southern Illinois led 39-32 at halftime, but the teams went back and forth during most of the second half.
Drake led six times in the second half.
There were highlights: an 18-of-21 night at the free-throw line; a 12-point, 10-rebound performance by Nick McGlynn; nine 3-pointers.
Southern Illinois' Aaron Cook led his team with 18 points. Kavion Pippen, the nephew of former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen, had 14. Tyler Smithpeters added 12, Armon Fletcher 11.
"At the 4-minute mark, we said, 'Hey, it's all about us,'" Hinson said.
Cook scored six points in the final 2:27, including back-to-back layups.
The Bulldogs are looking for a way to get back on track.
"We've been through it all before," Timmer said. "This team is resilient and we've shown that in the past."
Drake will play at Bradley at 7 p.m. Saturday.