Despite losing its star player early in the first half, No. 2 seed Drake University fought off a late comeback to defeat No. 7 seed Illinois State University 78-62 in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) men’s basketball tournament at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis Friday night.
The Bulldogs were without senior forward Nick McGlynn for a majority of the contest. McGlynn, the 2019 MVC Defensive Player of the Year, injured his right knee with 11:12 left in the first half and didn’t return. In his absence, first-year forward Nick Robbins put up five points and grabbed five rebounds.