Recap: Drake vs. North Dakota

Des Moines, IA (Sports Network) - Ben Simons scored 24 points to lead the Drake Bulldogs to a 70-64 defeat of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament at the Knapp Center.

Simons scored 13 of his points in the second half and knocked down 4-of-7 shots from beyond the three point line while Rayvonte Rice scored 19 points for Drake (18-15). Jordan Clarke grabbed 14 rebounds, collected four steals and blocked a pair of shots as well for the Bulldogs.

Brandon Brekke scored 18 points and ripped down a career-high 15 rebounds in his fifth double-double of the season for North Dakota (17-15). Troy Huff netted 15 and Patrick Mitchell added 13 in the losing effort.

North Dakota trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half but rolled out a 12-2 run to close the period and take a 26-24 lead into the break.

In the second half Simons and Rice erupted with Rice scoring all 19 of his points after halftime to lead the Bulldogs to the win. The Bulldogs also had a wide 20-5 margin on points from the free throw line while shooting an even 50.0 percent from the floor in the final twenty minutes.

North Dakota was the superior team on the inside in the game outscoring Drake 38-20 on points in the paint and holding a 39-31 edge on the boards. The Bulldogs had half as many giveaways (16-8) as the Fighting Sioux and used that to their advantage outscoring North Dakota 14-3 on points off turnovers.

Drake will advance to this weekend's second round where the Bulldogs will await the results of the remaining games of the first round to determine their next matchup.