Saturday Arch Madness Semifinal

Unlikely Drake versus UIC

(St. Louis, MO) – In one of the highest scoring Friday afternoons in Arch Madness history Drake and Illinois Chicago prevailed and will face one another in the Saturday Arch Madness semifinal round.

Drake became the first-ever nine seed to win two games and blasted the top seeded Belmont Bruins 100 to 79 and ended the Bruins’ hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth. The Bulldogs dropped nine straight before arriving at their ‘home-away-from home’, the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

Drake (14-19) has won eleven straight games in the St. Louis-based tournament and have been to four straight semifinal appearances.

Illinois Chicago torched Murray State 92-79 with five Flames scoring in double-figures and shutting down MVC ‘Freshman of the Year’ Roman Domon. The 6’9 rookie was harassed into a one for eleven shooting performance.

UIC (18-14) is enjoying its best season since joining the league and Rob Ehsan’s team has won five of its last seven games.

Saturday Arch Madness Semifinal

UIC swept its two games with the Bulldogs and they’ve won 13 of their last seventeen games. After losing nine straight, Drake seems to righted the ship and playing its best basketball.

The match up to watch is between a pair of sophomore guards. Drake’s Owen Larson seems to be coming into his own and UIC’s Elijah Crawford has been a huge difference-maker for the Flames’.

After averaging 9.6 points during the conference season, Larson has tallied 14 and twenty-five in St. Louis. Friday he added eight boards and eight helpers.

Crawford contributed a 19-point, six-assist game to the Flames dismantling of Murray State.

UIC is a deeper and more physical team than Drake. The Bulldogs’ depth took a hit Friday when Andrew Alia went out with what looked like a knee injury. Five Flames reached double-figures in Friday’s victory.

DU coach Eric Henderson needs the Valley’s leading scorer, Jalen Quinn to be big again on Saturday. Quinn scored 22 points during Thursday’s win over Southern Illinois and 31 against the Racers.

While Henderson’s team is ‘playing with house money’ and can play free and easy, UIC seems to be on a mission. They play with a relentless intensity and have arguably been the Valley’s best team since early January.

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