Drake knocks out Bradley 65-49

ST. LOUIS - Rayvonte Rice scored 18 points and Ben Simons had 16 as Drake defeated Bradley 65-49 Thursday night in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

The seventh-seeded Bulldogs (17-14) advance to the quarterfinals on Friday when they'll face No. 2 seed Creighton.

Drake finished in a five-way tie for third place at 9-9 in the Missouri Valley - its second-highest finish in 26 years - but tiebreakers dropped the Bulldogs to the No. 7 seed.

Walt Lemon scored 16 points and Dyricus Simms-Edwards had 14 for 10th-seeded Bradley (7-25), which shot 34 percent from the field and hit just 4 of 20 3-point attempts.

Drake, which beat Bradley for the third time this season, dominated inside with a 40-22 advantage on points in the paint.

BRADLEY (7-25)

Eastman 1-11 2-2 4, Shayok 0-0 2-2 2, Prosser 3-6 0-0 6, Simms-Edwards 5-12 3-5 14, Lemon 5-13 4-6 16, Woods 0-1 0-0 0, Crawford 1-5 0-0 3, Thompson 2-2 0-1 4. Totals 17-50 11-16 49.

DRAKE (17-14)

Clarke 2-6 1-1 5, Jeffers 3-9 2-2 8, Simons 5-14 3-3 16, Alexander 4-7 0-2 8, Rice 7-13 4-5 18, Hawley 2-2 1-2 6, Welfringer 0-1 0-0 0, Madison 0-0 0-0 0, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Woods 1-2 0-0 2, Smith 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-55 11-15 65.

Halftime_Drake 35-25. 3-Point Goals_Bradley 4-20 (Lemon 2-6, Crawford 1-4, Simms-Edwards 1-5, Woods 0-1, Eastman 0-4), Drake 4-13 (Simons 3-7, Hawley 1-1, Welfringer 0-1, Alexander 0-1, Rice 0-1, Jeffers 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Bradley 33 (Eastman, Lemon 7), Drake 35 (Clarke 9). Assists_Bradley 8 (Eastman, Simms-Edwards 3), Drake 12 (Simons 3). Total Fouls_Bradley 14, Drake 19. A_7,872.