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DES MOINES, Iowa – Drake's outside shooting from 3-point range proved to be too much for Eastern Illinois as the Panthers dropped a 74-56 road contest to the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in the Knapp Center.

EIU fell to 3-10 overall and opens Ohio Valley Conference play next Saturday at Tennessee State.  Drake improved to 6-5.

Sherman Blanford helped the Panthers in the first half scoring 11 of the Panthers first 14 points.  Drake jumped out to a 19-11 lead following a pair of free throws by Richard Carter with 13:14 to play.

Blanford converted a three point play at the 12:53 mark which sparked an EIU run capped by Austin Akers 3-pointer with 9:13 left in the half that gave EIU a 22-21 lead.  Blanford would pick up his second foul of the half and EIU would fail to score a basket the remainder of the first half.

Alex Austin had a pair of free throws with 5:45 left in the first half to give EIU a lead.  Morris Woods sank free throw at 4:03 that put EIU up 26-24.  Drake closed the half on a 9-0 run to lead 33-24 at the half.  Woods had ten points off the bench for EIU.

Micah Mason scored the first five points of the second half for the Bulldogs as he sank 5-of-6 shots from 3-point range with four of them coming in the second half.  Mason finished with a game high 19 points.

As a team Drake shot 59 percent from 3-point range hitting 13-of-22 including 8-of-14 in the second half.  Seth VanDeest led Drake in the first half and finished with 10 points as four Bulldogs scored in double figures.  Ben Simons had 14 and Chris Hines 11.

Blanford led EIU with 18 points hitting 8-of-10 from the floor to go along with 7 rebounds.   EIU won the battle on the boards with a 25-19 advantage.  11 of those 25 rebounds were on the offensive glass.   EIU shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half and 45 percent for the game.