Drake turns back-and-forth basketball game with UNI into double-digit win with late run

DES MOINES — Without second-leading scorer Bowen Born (illness), Northern Iowa fell short to Drake in a Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball game at Knapp Center Saturday night, 77-63.

Darnell Brodie’s two-handed dunk with 5:58 remaining gave the Bulldogs a 60-59 lead and began what became a game-winning 19-4 run.

Drake’s Tucker DeVries — who endured a 14 minute scoreless streak in the middle of the game despite a hot start — rediscovered his early-game stroke just in time to contribute down the stretch. The reigning Missouri Valley Conference player of the year also assisted on both of Kyron Gibson’s 3s that came during the game-clinching run.

“Thought it was a really good basketball game,” UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said. “Thought (our) guys did a great job in the first half. We had a ton of good things happen for us, (but), the obvious — we didn’t score for a while. We didn’t get enough out of our offense.”

DeVries — who finished with a game-high 29 points — made his presence known early in the rivalry matchup, scoring 14 points during a 15-2 Bulldogs run that provided an eight-point lead with 8:31 remaining in the first half.

DeVries’ scoring struggles began soon after, while the Panthers found their way out of the hole he put them in. Landon Wolf, Tytan Anderson and Trey Campbell combined for an 8-0 run to get back within one with 3:25 left in the half.

Then, tied at 36 with the shot clock off, UNI freshman RJ Taylor provided the highlight of his young career, coming off his defensive assignment to blitz and steal the ball from DeVries. Taylor sprinted down the court for a fastbreak layup, was fouled by Conor Enright and made the free throw to give the Panthers a 38-36 lead at halftime.

“I thought (Taylor) played a good game,” Jacobson said. “I thought he played with some confidence today, but there was probably some opportunities for him to kind of go and do what he’s capable of where he maybe stayed away from (that) and that’s simply because he hasn’t played a lot of minutes. Love what he did today and I think we all feel like he’s going to have an impact on what happens here the last six, eight weeks.”

UNI continued to build on its newfound lead after the break, scoring 15 unanswered between the end of the first and beginning of the second half. Trey Campbell — who led the run in scoring with six of his team-high 18 points — hit a jumper from the left elbow to give UNI its biggest lead of the game of 10, provoking a timeout from Drake Coach Darian DeVries.

“(Campbell) was terrific today and he’s been so good with maybe the exception of North Texas — maybe all the way back to the season-opener when he got in foul trouble and had a weird game,” Jacobson said with a laugh. “But his practices in September and October were great. He’s been really good for a long time. Our team has got so much trust and confidence in him.”

Less than nine minutes later, the Bulldogs (17-4, 8-2) regained the lead with a layup that turned into a three-point play from Atin Wright — one of seven lead changes that happened before Drake’s game-winning run.

Wolf joined Campbell in double figures with 11 points off the bench.

DeVries was joined in double figures by Enright and Brodie, who scored 14 and 11, respectively.

“I feel like every time we play this game, this is what this game does,” Darian DeVries said of the back-and-forth affair. “Incredible, competitive game. It’s about exactly what you’d expect out of this game and it’s what makes this game so special. Packed house. A lot on the line. And two really good teams doing everything they can to try and get a win.”

UNI (12-9, 6-3) returns to action Wednesday at Bradley (15-5, 7-2) at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).