Men's Basketball

Arch Madness Game 8: UNI 60, Drake 58

#6 UNI (60), #2 Drake (58)
 
RECORDS AND TOURNAMENT NOTES: Today’s semifinal attendance is 7,884; This will mark the first time in tournament history a #5 seed will play a #6 see for the tourney championship. This marks the second time (but first time in St. Louis) the No. 6 seed has advanced to the championship of the MVC Tournament. Southern Illinois was the only other #6 seed to advance back in 1989 when it eventually loss to #1 Creighton in the championship.
 
UNI WIN: The Panthers, winning their second straight game, improve to 16-17 while advancing to the championship of the MVC Tournament for the seventh time in school history but first time since winning back-to-back titles in 2015 & 2016. UNI improves its MVC Tournament record to 25-21 including a 4-2 record as a #6 seed, a 3-2 record against Drake.
 
DRAKE LOSS: Drake, which had a three-game winning streak snapped, falls to 24-9. The Bulldogs’ MVC Tournament record slips to 18-40 including a 2-3 mark against UNI.
 
DRAKE NOTES: Anthony Murphy today has set a new career-high 16 points, matching his total Friday vs. Illinois State and added 10 boards for his second straight double-double. Twin brother Tremell Murphy added 13. Drake made 5 treys tonight, pushing season total to 273 to move into No. 5 on school single season charts. Drake's Nick McGlynn, the MVC Defensive Player of Year as well as the team’s leading scorer (15.2) and rebounder (8.3) did not play after suffering a MCL sprain in the right knee during the first half of Friday’s quarterfinal game against Illinois State. Garrett Sturtz added 7 points off the bench with a career-high 4 steals.
 
UNI NOTES: Wyatt Lohaus set his career high with 27 points --- 21 in the second half -- and it was the first time in his career he had had back-to-back 20-point games. He has the tourney’s top single game point total this season. Ben Jacobson is UNI’s all-time wins leader with 266 victories in 13 seasons. He is 4-2 in MVC tournament semifinal matchups. The last time Ben Jacobson lost a semifinal game was in 2008 against Illinois State, losing 42-56. Both Wyatt Lohaus (14 points and 16 points) and AJ Green (11 points and 19 points) are averaging 15 ppg this season vs. Drake. UNI is 9-2 this season when holding opponents under 60 points.
 
FIRST HALF: Drake jumped into early 7-3 and 9-5 leads before Wyatt Lohaus hit a right wing three to put UNI up 10-9 with 14 minutes left in the half. A 5-0 run pushed Drake back ahead 15-10 with 11 minutes to play. UNI pulled within a point on two straight baskets by Lohaus but Drake climbed back in front at 21-16 with nine minutes to play. A three by AJ Green forged a 21-21 tie with seven minutes left. Green followed with another trey on UNI’s next trip downcourt but Drake answered with a bucket and two free throws to regain the lead. Anthony Murphy hit three straight FTs for a 28-24 Drake edge with four minutes left. A Murphy then hit a trey with shot clock running down to make it 31-26 with 2:14 to play, and had Drake’s last eight points. Drake enjoyed a 31-28 halftime lead. Drake was shooting better at the half at .478 (11/23) to UNI’s .407 (11/27) with UNI in a 14-13 rebound lead. Anthony Murphy of Drake led all scorers with 23 points and had 5 rebounds.
 
SECOND HALF: After four lead changes and four ties in the first half, there was more of the same in the second half with another tie and two more lead changes the first four minutes of the period. Tremell Murphy, a Drake double-figure scorer and 31-game starter who had a career-high 26 points in Drake’s quarterfinal win over Illinois State Friday, left the floor with 19:28 to play with a right elbow injury but came back with the arm wrapped at the 15:08 mark. Neither team led by more than four and UNI pushed back in front 43-42 with 9:40 to play. UNI went ahead 48-44 with eight minutes to play as Drake was hitting just .278 (5/18) from the floor in the second half. Lohaus hit a turnaround jumper in the lane for a 50-44 lead with 7:13 to play, and at that point had 13 of UNI’s 22 points in the second half. A 5-0 Drake run cut the UNI lead to 50-49 with 6:20 to play. Noah Thomas hit his second straight twisting layup in the lane to put Drakein front 51-50 with 5:47 left. Thomas added another turnaround layup for a 53-50 lead and a 9-0 Drake run before Lohaus scored to snap the DU streak. Lohaus then hit two FTs with 3:47 to play to push his point total to 23 for the game and forge the 11th lead change of the game. The teams traded buckets with Lohaus scoring again. It was tied at 56-56 with 2:40 to play when Trae Berhow canned two FTs for UNI for a 58-56 lead that held through two trips up court for both teams. UNI got the ball back and called time out with 27.6 seconds left and 16 seconds on the shot clock. A tipped ball and wild loose-ball scramble to the DU end of the court went out of bounds and a shot clock violation gave the ball to Drake with 9.8 seconds left under its own goal. Tremell Murphy scored with 8.7 seconds left but Lohaus drove the length of the floor and hit a bank shot with 2.1 seconds left. Thomas got off a desperation shot ahead of the final horn but missed.