SIU was hoping he could avenge two regular-season losses to shorthand Drake on Friday night at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.
But the Salukis couldn't get the job done, cooling off from the 3-point line at the Enterprise Center and ending their season with a 65-52 quarterfinal loss.
"There were some tears," said Marcus Domask of the locker room after the game. "We were close to halftime and then they had a big run. I hope it stays with us during the off-season."
Domask scored 18 points and secured eight rebounds for sixth-seeded SIU (16–15), but did not get enough help. Lance Jones found fault in the first half and was never on track, managing 15 points on 6 of 15 shoots before being fouled out.
And the Salukis, who is capable of hitting 14 or 15 3s in his best game, converted only 4 of 26 for the night. They were 34 from 72 off the arc in their last three games.
"It hurt to go 3 out of 4 out of 26," said SIU coach Brian Mullins. We could not get into the rhythm aggressively.
Meanwhile, the third-seeded Bulldogs (23-9) continued to back down with 1-2 punches from Shanquan Hemphill and Tucker Davies in the second half. Hemphill needed just eight shots to score 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Davies came alive after halftime for 11 of his 13.
Furthermore, Drake dominated the board after owning seven in the first half. It ended the evening with a 34-29 lead; After halftime, SIU recorded only five boards.
DeVries hit a hard shot along the baseline with 3:21 remaining to provide the Bulldogs with a 60-46 cushion, essentially ending the competitive phase of the game.
The second meeting of the teams in seven days could not have had a more promising start for SIU than the halfway mark, even though Jones missed 13 consecutive 3-pointers after opening the scoring with 3.
That's because the Salukis overcame their fierce shooting from the arc in the first nine minutes with turnover troubles, some good defense and excellent rebounding.
Drake gets his minutes leader, guard DJ. Wilkins, a 10 PPG scorer who tore his ACL on February 26 against SIU. It missed all kinds of shots from the field - open 3s, post-ups, looking even harder in traffic - and went 6 of its first 26.
Eventually, the Salukis stepped up slightly on the offense, mostly behind Domasque. He collected a dozen points and six rebounds in the half. Others were able to contribute little as SIU grabbed 24 boards in half, which was a multiple for the game at Drake.
Jones made his second 3 after an aggressive rebound and dropped it 2:47 in the half to make it 24-17, a play that enraged Bulldogs fans as Tremell Murphy hit the floor after taking a spill while driving. was lying on the other end of aim.
"SIU was playing harder and making more plays," said Drake's coach, Darien Davis.
But SIU could not capture that lead. Quite the opposite happened. Drake made his final four shots and went on to lead 11-2, taking a 28-26 lead for the break when Garrett Sturtz converted the baseline jumper with 5.3 seconds remaining.
Jones said the Bulldogs carried that momentum into the second half.
"It was big for them because they came out with a lot of confidence in the second half," he said.
Dawg Bites
Domask and Jones combined for 18 of SIU's 26 points in the first half. Ben Coupet, Jr., who entered the game at an average of 17.8 in his last four matches, scored two points in 11 minutes and sat out for more than the final five minutes after drawing his second foul. ... Domask led the team in scoring (15.1), rebounding (5.1) and assists (3.9), becoming the first player to do so since Desmar Jackson did so in 2014. ... This was the first meeting between the Salukis and the Bulldogs in the Ark Madness. Since 2010.