ALBANY — Dogged defense wasn’t enough for Drake, which fell to Miami 63-56 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 12 Bulldogs led for more than 28 minutes but didn’t make a field goal in the final 4 minutes, 30 seconds, with a lone free throw from graduate guard Roman Penn its only score in that stretch.
No. 5 Miami ended the game on a 16-1 run and will face the winner of the late game between No. 4 Indiana and No. 13 Kent State at MVP Arena.
“I was so impressed by Drake’s defense. We read about it. We saw it on tape. But not until you play against it … It takes a lot to survive, and we fortunately survived today,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said.
Miami, which averages 79.4 points per game (24th nationally), struggled to score against Drake and shot 30.4 percent overall.
The Bulldogs led by as many as eight points with 5 minutes, 40 seconds left in the game, but went cold after a jump shot from Penn capped a 9-0 run.
Miami went to a press defense, which flustered the Bulldogs and led to four turnovers in the final four minutes, fueling the Hurricanes’ run.
“We had worked on (breaking the press) all week, and we hadn’t been pressed a lot this year. I thought we had handled it pretty well in our practices,” Drake coach Darren DeVries said. “Like I told the guys, we had done a lot of things right up to that point. Give Miami credit for making some plays there to get that game tied back up.”
At the final media timeout with 3:50 left, the Hurricanes still trailed by six.
“I was like, man, this can’t be the way, how it ends. I talked to my teammates. I felt like they felt the same way,” said sophomore guard Nigel Pack, who led Miami with 21 points.
Sophomore guard Wooga Poplar added 15 points for the Hurricanes, and sophomore forward Norchad Omier had a…
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