Drake basketball beats Murray State, advances to Missouri Valley Conference semifinal

ST. LOUIS — The Drake men's basketball team advanced to its fifth straight Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinal with a 74-62 win over Murray State on Friday.

The Racers were headed to halftime with the lead before DJ Burns fouled Drake's Tucker DeVries as he took a last-ditch full-court shot. That awarded the Bulldogs’ leading scorer three free throws, and he made all three. Drake headed to the locker room with a 33-31 lead.

Murray State stayed close to start the second half but Drake started to pull ahead around the 13-minute mark. Five straight field goals gave the Bulldogs a 15-point lead with 8:43 left to play.

Tucker DeVries led the Bulldogs with 27 points. Roman Penn contributed 16 to the scoreboard and had a hand in several other baskets, dishing out 10 of Drake's 18 assists.

"It's the best time of year, and you're excited to play these games," DeVries said. "You're full of energy and you're amped up. Just staying the course and taking whatever they give me and using that. Whatever the team needs."

Drake will play the winner of Southern Illinois vs. Missouri State at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Turnover troubles test Drake

The Bulldogs turned the ball over seven times the last time Drake played Murray State.

On Friday, Drake had seven turnovers ... in the first half. The Bulldogs tightened things up in the second, with just two giveaways. Murray State had just two turnovers in the first 20 minutes, and the Racers finished with nine.

"We certainly pointed out that seven turnovers was a bit more than we would like," Drake coach Darian DeVries said. "I thought the guys did a great job in the second half of taking care of the ball.

"I thought we took care of the ball better because we got better movement in the second half. The ball was getting side-to-side, so we got the defense spread out a little bit more. In the first half, we were driving into traffic a lot, and so that's where some of those turnovers were coming from."

The fortunate thing for the Bulldogs is that Murray State didn't capitalize on all those errors. Both Drake and the Racers had six points off turnovers in the first half, but the Bulldogs outscored the Racers, 11-2, on turnovers in the second.

Some of that can be attributed to this being the first game of the tournament, and that the Bulldogs were settling into their rhythm. But it isn’t a good sign when the team with the best turnover ratio in the conference starts with seven against the seventh seed.

Drake will face tougher competition on Saturday, and the Bulldogs cannot afford to give their opponents extra opportunities.

Bulldogs could be without Conor Enright

Drake may have lost a valuable piece of its bench.

Conor Enright, a Missouri Valley All-Freshman team selection, went up for a shot with 4:20 remaining in the first half. A photo of the attempt makes it seem like Enright was hit while taking the shot, although it was unclear what exactly caused him to struggle afterward.

Enright attempted to stand up, but needed to be supported by his teammates. The training staff was called over and Enright was led down the tunnel to the locker room. He did not join the team on the bench to start the second half.

"Prayers for Conor," Penn said postgame. "He's a warrior and he's definitely the heart and soul of this team. We're going to try and finish this off for him."

Enright recorded two points, two rebounds and a steal in about six minutes of playing time against Murray State.

Drake could be without a player who averages 4.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists off the bench. He adds speed to the Bulldogs’ offense and is a menace on defense. He averages 19 minutes per game, making him Darian DeVries’ go-to option as the sixth man.

Darian DeVries did not have an update on Enright's status after the game.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tucker DeVries, Roman Penn help Drake basketball past Murray State