maly, too: Drake's Bid To Upset Saint Mary's Falls Short, 67-63. But Bulldog Fans Have Reason To Be Optimistic: It's early, I realize, but so far I like what I'm seeing from coach Ray Giacoletti and his Drake players. Giacoletti doesn't have the most talented team in the world, in the Missouri Valley Conference. the state or even central Iowa. But his Bulldogs are playing hard, and if he can continue to get those results from them, this 2013-2014 team--of which very little is expected--is going to win some games it has no business winning. No opponent will be able to take these Bulldogs lightly.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Drake's Bid To Upset Saint Mary's Falls Short, 67-63. But Bulldog Fans Have Reason To Be Optimistic: It's early, I realize, but so far I like what I'm seeing from coach Ray Giacoletti and his Drake players. Giacoletti doesn't have the most talented team in the world, in the Missouri Valley Conference. the state or even central Iowa. But his Bulldogs are playing hard, and if he can continue to get those results from them, this 2013-2014 team--of which very little is expected--is going to win some games it has no business winning. No opponent will be able to take these Bulldogs lightly.

MORAGA, Calif. – Facing an 18-point deficit just minutes into the second half, Drake's basketball rallied to pull within a point before falling short in a 67-63 loss Saturday night at Saint Mary's.

Ray Giacoletti

The Bulldogs' attempt to become just the 10th team to win on Saint Mary's home court in the last six years was led by 18 points and five assists from Richard Carter and 11 points and six rebounds from Daddy Ugbede.

Saint Mary's (4-0) had four players in double figures with Beau Levesque's 16 points leading the way. Forward Brad Waldow added 16 points and 13 boards. Drake’s (2-1)offense struggled to get shots to fall, converting on just 35.7 percent of its attempts, but took care of the ball with just 10 turnovers and only one in the second half to nearly escape McKeon Pavilion with a victory.

“I’m proud of the way we fought and competed for 40 minutes,” Drake coach Ray Giacoletti said. “We had a shot, but the first half got us in a rut and then the second half got off to bad start. You can’t go on the road and have those kind of spurts.”

Those spurts were exacerbated by one of the toughest home courts in college basketball as the Gaels improved to 95-9 in McKeon Pavilion over the last six seasons.

With an 10-point deficit to start the second half, Drake quickly found itself down 18 points, 41-23, just three minutes into the half, forcing Giacoletti to take a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the adjustments took hold with the Bulldogs going on a 9-0 run courtesy of five points from Carter.

The Gaels managed to keep their lead at nine or more points for the next six minutes until California native Gary Ricks, Jr. went on a tear to pull Drake within two points, 53-51, with 6:42 left in the contest. Ricks began the spurt with a three-pointer, followed by a pair of free throws and a steal that evolved into a fastbreak layup to change the complexion of the game.

Two minutes later, a pair of Carter free throws trimmed Saint Mary’s lead to one point, 56-55, but five straight points from the Gaels reestablished their advantage. The Bulldogs fired one last salvo across the Gaels’ bow courtesy of a Carter three-pointer with 30 seconds left to make it a 3-point, 63-60, game. However, Saint Mary’s hit all four of its free throws down the stretch to preserve the home win. Carter tacked on another three-pointer as time expired to account for the 67-63 final.

Drake’s 10-point half time deficit was a result of both squads struggling offensively to open the game with just three combined points scored in the first four minutes of the game. Saint Mary’s eventually found its stroke to put together an 8-0 run to take a 16-6 lead with 11:45 left in the half. Drake’s offense was unable to do the same, finishing the half shooting just 37.5 percent to trail 33-23 at halftime thanks to an 8-2 Drake run to close the half..

Ugbede provided the team with a spark off the bench, coming in to score back-to-back buckets and finishing the half with nine points in nine minutes.

“Daddy came in and gave us great energy and played very physically,” Giacoletti said.

He and his frontcourt mates Seth VanDeest and Jacob Enevold Jensen combined to hold Saint Mary’s forward Waldow and Matt Hodgson to seven combined first half points.

The Bulldogs' next game is Saturday against Nebraska-Omaha at 1:05 p.m. in the Knapp Center. The game will be part of a special day for Drake basketball as the Bulldogs are scheduled to begin construction on their new practice facility with a ceremonial groundbreaking at 11 a.m.

-- Game story by Ty Patton, Drake sports information Opinion at the top and bottom of the page by Ron Maly. Photo of Ray Giacoletti courtesy of GoDrakeBulldogs.com.

RON MALY'S COMMENTS--It's early, I realize, but so far I like what I'm seeing from coach Ray Giacoletti and his Drake players. Giacoletti doesn't have the most talented team in the world, in the Missouri Valley Conference, the state or even central Iowa. But his Bulldogs are playing hard, and if Giacoletti can continue to get those results from them, this 2013-2014 team--of which very little is expected--is going to win some games it has no business winning. No opponent will be able to take these Bulldogs lightly.]

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.