Drake rallies past ISU

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Adam Emmenecker scored a career-high 19 points, Leonard Houston added 18 and Drake rallied to beat Illinois State 79-73 on Saturday night to take sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

In a matchup of the only unbeaten teams in Valley play, Drake (16-1, 7-0 MVC) rallied from 12 down in the final 13 minutes to extend its winning streak to 15.

Anthony Slack and Osiris Eldridge each scored 21 points for Illinois State (14-4, 6-1), which had its nine-game winning streak snapped.

The Redbirds shot 55 percent, but committed 17 turnovers and couldn't regain control after Drake ran off 10 straight points to open a 69-64 lead with 3:10 left.

The key play in that stretch came when Emmenecker rebounded his own miss with the scored tied at 64-64 and fed Jacob Baryenbruch, who nailed a 3-pointer that put the Bulldogs ahead to stay. Baryenbruch finished with 8 points.

Illinois State drew to 69-67 on Eldridge's 3-pointer, and the Redbirds trailed 73-70 after Dom Johnson converted a 3-point play with 43.2 seconds remaining.

But Emmenecker made 2 free throws and Klayton Korver sank 4 to secure the victory.

Jonathan Cox had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Korver had 15 points and 7 rebounds.

Emmenecker shot 6-for-10, all on drives to the basket, and added 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.

Illinois State had been ahead by 2 at the half.