Des Moines, Iowa: Drake Holds Off Southern 75-68 as Carroll Scores 21 With 11 Rebounds

Drake held off Southern 75-68 in a Sunday matinee at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa, behind a second half takeover from transfer forward Jon Carroll, who scored 19 of his 21 points after halftime and pulled down a game high 11 rebounds.

Southern led 27-23 late in the first half before Drake shut the Jaguars out for the last 6:01 of the half. Point guard Dre Kindell started the closing run with a three pointer and a driving layup that put Drake ahead to stay at 28-27. Owen Larson added a steal and a feed to Dothan Ijadimbola for a layup, then hit a three pointer of his own, and Drake went to the break up 33-27. The Bulldogs scored the first two baskets of the second half as well, stretching the run to 14-0 and the lead to 37-27.

Southern kept coming back

Drake twice pushed the lead to 14 points in the second half, the second time at 71-57 when Carroll drove for a basket with 3:13 left. Southern answered with an 11-2 run and cut the margin to 73-68 with 46 seconds left. After a timeout, Drake broke the press and Justin Burns found Andrew Alia for a layup with 33.3 seconds left. Larson rebounded a Southern miss and the Bulldogs ran out the clock.

Kindell scored 17 points on 5 of 8 shooting, with three assists and two steals. Larson and Alia scored 11 points each. Larson handed out a team high four assists, Alia hit three three pointers, and Burns finished with seven points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Malik Ferguson led Southern with 17 points and Daniel Dormu added 15 for the Jaguars, who were picked second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll.

Carroll shot 7 of 12 from the field and 7 of 10 at the free throw line in his eighth career double-double and his first at Drake. He also drew nine fouls, with two assists and two steals. As a team, Drake shot 46.2 percent, won the paint 30-24, outrebounded Southern 31-29, held a 14-8 edge in second chance points and forced 21 turnovers. The Bulldogs made only 61 percent of their free throws, which helped Southern stay close late.

"We got 10 straight stops, which was huge for us, then retook the lead and that's what we want to see," Drake head coach Eric Henderson said. "Talk about responding to adversity, that's exactly what we did and I'm really proud of our guys for that response."

What is next

Drake is 2-0 for the sixth time in the last seven seasons and improved its Knapp Center home record to 107-22 dating back to the 2018-19 season. The Bulldogs lead the series with Southern 2-0, with the first meeting an 81-58 Drake win in Des Moines on Dec. 16, 1986. Drake hosts South Dakota on Friday, Nov. 13, with tipoff at 6:30 p.m. Southern is 0-3 on a five game season opening road trip that continues at Iowa State on Tuesday night and at Minnesota on Thursday night.