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GAME NOTES: A couple of teams tied for seventh place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings square off this afternoon at the Hulman Center in Terre Haute, as the Indiana State Sycamores play host to the Drake Bulldogs.

Drake is trying to end what has become a three-game slide, after the squad had won six during a seven-game stretch. On Wednesday night, the Bulldogs were pitted against Northern Iowa at home and ended up falling by a final of 57-48, dropping the program to 6-8 in league action.

As for the Sycamores, they too have fallen below .500 in conference play due to a two-game slide. Last weekend, the squad was handed a 76-70 setback by Wichita State on the road and three days later followed that up with a 65-52 defeat at the hands of Creighton in Omaha.

The Sycamores lead the all-time series by a 36-34 count, picking up a 60-46 win on the road at Drake last month in the first meeting of the season.

In the first half at the Drake-Knapp Center, the Bulldogs held UNI without a three-point field goal, but in the second half it all turned around for the Panthers as they converted seven triples to take the win on the road. Ryan Wedel and Josh Young led the way for Drake with 11 points apiece and Adam Templeton pulled down 10 boards, but the team as a whole finished with a mere 21 rebounds in the setback. Young, who has already made more free-throws (89- of-122) than any of his teammates have yet to attempt through 26 games, leads the unit in scoring with his 13.9 ppg, followed by Wedel with 11.5 ppg. Templeton paces the group on the glass (7.3 rpg) and is the most reliable three-point shooter (.464), yet he is scoring only 9.8 ppg at the moment for a team that could use a huge boost in the paint.

While it would not have made enough of a difference, the fact that Indiana State shot only 15-of-23 at the free-throw line against Creighton earlier this week is reason enough to understand why the Sycamores again came up with a loss. Carl Richard accounted for 15 points and eight rebounds, while Rashad Reed and Aaron Carter tallied 13 and 11 points, respectively, in the losing cause. Even though he handed out five assists, Jordan Printy converted just one of his seven field goal attempts and finished with two points. The loss of leading scorer Harry Marshall (13.9 ppg) to a stress fracture in his right foot is clearly taking a toll on the Sycamores right now because it leaves the squad severely short-handed. Dwayne Lathan (12.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg) was the only other double-digit scorer for the group and he's out with a broken hand, so don't expect to see this squad go much above their 66.0 ppg this weekend.

Having both of their top scorers on the shelf means the Sycamores are at a distinct disadvantage at the moment. Even though Drake hasn't been great on the road in 2009-10, this is certainly one of the meetings the Bulldogs could bring home.