Men's Basketball Collapses in First Game of MVC Tournament
- Sam Dicus
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Belmont’s men’s basketball team caught a case of the St. Louis blues in their opening round upset loss to the Drake University Bulldogs, 100-79.
The Bulldogs, winners of 11 straight Missouri Valley Conference Tournament games and three consecutive MVC Tournaments, became the first nine-seed to beat a one-seed in the history of the tournament.
“We were ready to play. We were very well prepared. We started the game off well, but we just never really got in a groove on the defensive end,” said head coach Casey Alexander. “We picked a really bad time to play our worst game.”
MVC Player of the Year Tyler Lundblade got the scoring started with back-to-back three-pointers with All-MVC second-teamer Sam Orme, but the Bruins missed four of their next five shots, and the momentum cooled.
Coming out of a timeout, each team quickly caught fire. The Bruins hit three consecutive shots, but were outdone by Drake’s five straight makes, as the Bulldogs took over the lead.
The Bruins were up 30-26 with a little over eight minutes to go in the half when Jalen Quinn, a member of the All-MVC first team and the conference’s leading scorer, went on a personal 5-0 run to give Drake the lead.
A three-pointer from redshirt senior Aidan Noyes gave the Bruins the lead, but things quickly went sideways for Belmont from there.
The Bruins went scoreless for over two-and-a-half minutes while watching Drake go on a 10-0 run to push the lead to nine with less than three minutes to go in the half.
Belmont would go into halftime trailing 48-41, but the Bruins were no strangers to a halftime deficit against Drake after their 25-point comeback win on the road earlier this season.
Even still, things were looking bleak when the Bulldogs went seven of eight from the floor to grow their lead to 17 points with a little under 13 minutes to play.
Noyes hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead to 11, but that was as close as the Bruins would get the rest of the way.
Drake managed to push the lead back out to 18 despite not hitting a shot from the floor for over four minutes, and from there, they cruised to the 21-point upset victory.
“I think one thing we’ve done really well all year is to shift momentum in games. I think we just didn’t get it done on that end,” said Lundblade.
Belmont was led in scoring by Noyes with 19 points. Orme and Lundblade also scored in double figures with 18 and 11 points, respectively.
Defensively, the Bruins lacked an answer for Quinn and sophomore guard Owen Larson, who combined for 56 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds on 53% shooting.
The loss sank Belmont’s chances of reaching the March Madness tournament, and Alexander did not put up much of a fight advocating for the Bruins to obtain an at-large bid.
“I don’t think they’re watching me right now anyway, so I guess if there’s another time, I’ll let you do it. If you could take care of that torch for us, that’d be great,” said Alexander.
After its dominant regular season, Belmont’s unceremonious exit made for an uncomfortable reality after the game.
“When you put your time, your effort, your heart and soul into something, and you do it with people you love, and you do it for a place that’s great, and it all comes together over the course 31 games in the regular season, to see that come to an end abruptly and surprisingly in our minds is really, really difficult,” said Alexander. “But it’ll pass, and we’ll all be alright.”
While the loss all but eliminates the Bruins’ chance for an at-large bid to the March Madness tournament, there’s likely still basketball to played for the team.
“Our season’s not over. It’s hard to accept that we’re not going to March Madness right now, but that is the blessing of the regular season we put together that we’re going to make a NIT run and keep the season going,” said Lundblade.
Nothing has been announced about Belmont’s postseason future, but Alexander addressed his future with the team amidst rumors connecting him to the Kansas State head coach position.
“My plans are to be back at Belmont and have a great team and see if we can win March Madness. Unless you know something that I don't know, I don't think there's anything else to worry or think about,” said Alexander.
Written by Sam Dicus