Drake 82, Illinois St. 77

Jan 12, 2013, 10:55 pm

NORMAL, Ill. -- Chris Hines and Ben Simons scored 23 points apiece as Drake defeated Illinois State 82-78 Saturday night.

Jordan Clarke added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs (7-9, 1-4 Missouri Valley), who snapped a four-game losing streak. Joey King had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Johnny Hill had a career-high 24 points (all in the second half), Bryant Allen added 22 and Jackie Carmichael had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Illinois State (9-8, 0-5), which has lost five straight.

Drake trailed for most of the first half, falling behind 41-32 at halftime, but opened the second half with a 25-6 run to take a 57-47 lead with 12:43 remaining.

The Redbirds got as close as 77-73 on Hill's three-point play with 37 seconds left, but Drake hit 5 of 6 free throws the rest of the way to close it out.