RON MALY HAS BEEN WATCHING THE PARADE GO BY FOR A LONG TIME. THIS IS ONE OF HIS WEBSITES.

Friday, November 23, 2012

'If You Look At the Free Throws, That Was the Difference,' Drake's Mark Phelps Says After California Rallies for 73-70 Victory In Tournament At Anaheim

Drake's basketball team fell in the  final minute to California, 73-70, in the opening round of the DIRECTV Classic Thursday night in Anaheim, Calif. The Bulldogs' Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) notched his second straight double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.), Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf), Richard Carter (Detroit, Mich.), and 
Gary Ricks, Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif.) each scored 13 points, but their scoring could not hold off the Golden Bears’ late charge. Justin Cobbs recorded 21 points followed by 15 from Allen Crabbe, almost all of which came down the stretch, to lead Cal past Drake in the closing minutes of the game. “It was obviously a hard-fought game and when it counted the most, they made the plays that counted,” Drake coach Mark Phelps said. “If you look at the free throws, that ended up being the difference. We both had 26 attempts and they made 20 of them while we made five.” Drake led by as many as nine points with seven minutes to play at 64-55, but Cal rallied and retook the lead at 67-66 with 4:20 remaining.  thanks to a 12-2 run, fueled by the high-scoring guard combo of Crabbe and Cobbs. “Certainly it’s a painful loss,” Phelps said. “We went into a scoring drought then and I thought that most of the game we did a good job with our transition defense, but during that stretch, Crabbe got into the open floor.” In the second half, the Blue and White was able to take its first lead since the opening minutes following back-to-back technical fouls called on Richard Solomon and Cal head coach Mike Montgomery at 15:34 in the second half with Drake trailing, 44-43, that helped start a 13-6 run Bulldog run to build a three-possession lead with Simons scoring seven of those points before Cal rebounded from the charge. Drake faced similar adversity in the first half when Cal jumped to a 23-13 and  the Bulldogs responded with an 11-1 run in the middle of the period to keep the game in control, knotting the score at 24 apiece with 4:11 remaining in the first. Each team kept pace with each other, resulting in a 33-33 tie at halftime. Ricks, playing in his hometown, helped keep the Bulldogs on the Bears’ heels with 12 of his 13 points coming in the opening half. Drake faces Rice in the second round at 8:30 p.m. CST Friday. Rice dropped its opening game to Georgia Tech, 54-36. The Drake-Rice game will be televised by ESPNU. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Ty Patton, Drake's assistant athletic director for communications].













Drake Bulldogs
STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Jordan Clarke, F304-71-12-62102011211
Ben Simons, F374-151-74-4022102313
Seth VanDeest, C275-70-03-6144100113
Chris Hines, G211-31-32-201100135
Richard Carter, G284-82-23-6023102413
BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Jeremy Jeffers  30-10-10-000000000
K Babineaux140-20-10-001300240
J King141-40-30-000000242
M Mason10-00-00-000000000
G Ricks Jr.195-62-31-2241000313
D Ugbede60-00-00-001000010
TOTALS
FGM-A3PM-AFTM-AOREBREBASTSTL BLK TO PFPTS


24-537-2115-265251631102570


45.3%33.3%57.7%
California Golden Bears
STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Richard Solomon, F124-80-12-2250002510
David Kravish, F382-80-02-416011146
Justin Cobbs, G385-90-111-13154204321
Brandon Smith, G242-40-22-300200016
Allen Crabbe, G355-102-43-4072014415
BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Bak Bak, F10-00-00-000000000
Robert Thurman, F263-70-00-027010026
Jeff Powers, G30-00-00-000000000
T Wallace234-71-30-047310229
TOTALS
FGM-A3PM-AFTM-AOREBREBASTSTL BLK TO PFPTS


25-533-1120-2610371152132173


47.2%27.3%76.9%




DRAKE
3733 --70
CALIFORNIA     33 40-- 73
Technicals: None
Officials: Michael Eggers, Gary Maxwell, Brent Hampton
Attendance: 1,087