The Murray State Racers suffered an 82-64 loss against the Drake Bulldogs on Saturday at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa, ending their streak of back-to-back wins. Murray State (9-7) fell to 4-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference and will face the Northern Iowa Panthers on Tuesday during their first trip to the Hawkeye State.
JaCobi Wood led the Racers with 20 points, his fourth 20-point scoring game of the season, while Brian Moore Jr. scored 14 points for back-to-back games of 10-plus points. When Wood scored 10 of the first 12 points for Murray State, the Racers took a 12-9 lead just over five minutes into the game. However, the Bulldogs launched a 20-2 run over 7:45 and increased their lead to 29-14. Murray State reduced the Bulldog lead to nine points with 4:03 remaining, but trailed 44-29 at halftime. In the second half, the Racers hit their first three shots to get as close as 11 points, but were unable to get any closer for the rest of the game.
This marked the first meeting between the Racers and Bulldogs in Des Moines, with the return game scheduled for February 7 in Murray. Quincy Anderson’s consecutive games streak with a made three-pointer extended to 10 after he hit one in the second half. His last game without a three-pointer was against Chattanooga on November 26. Tuesday’s game in Cedar Falls will be the first game in the history of Murray State basketball against Northern Iowa, with a 7 p.m. CT start at the McLeod Center.
