Poor Shooting and Turnovers Cost SMSU in Exhibition Loss to Drake

Box Score

DES MOINES, IOWA: NCAA Division I Drake University held Southwest Minnesota State to just 35.4 percent shooting and forced 24 turnovers to earn a 69-51 exhibition game victory in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday.

SMSU was just 8 of 24 from the field in the first half including just 2 of 10 from 3-point range. SMSU took an early 7-2 lead in the game's first two minutes as senior Matt Fletcher drilled a 3-pointer with 18:19 left in the half. SMSU held a 12-11 lead with 14 minutes left in the half before the Bulldogs went on a 12-0 run over the next six minutes to build a 23-12 lead and never looked back.

The Mustangs trailed 36-25 at halftime and fell behind by 23 points midway through the half before answering back and cutting the Drake lead to 55-41 with just over six minutes left in the game but the Bulldogs were too tough down the stretch and held on for the victory.

Fletcher led the SMSU scoring with 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting. Senior Travis Krenske added nine points and was just 3 of 10 from the field.

Klayton Korver led all scorers with 19 points as he hit on 8 of 12 shots from the floor.

SMSU will continue exhibition play on Tuesday, Nov. 6 with a road game at the University of Minnesota beginning at 6 p.m. The Golden Gophers defeated SMSU 59-50 two seasons ago in exhibition action.

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