Drake 65, Bradley 49

Drake 65, Bradley 49

Published Mar. 2, 2012 12:58 a.m. ET

Rayvonte Rice scored 18 points and Ben Simons had 16 as Drake defeated Bradley 65-49 Thursday night in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

The seventh-seeded Bulldogs (17-14) advance to the quarterfinals on Friday when they'll face No. 2 seed Creighton.

Drake finished in a five-way tie for third place at 9-9 in the Missouri Valley - its second-highest finish in 26 years - but tiebreakers dropped the Bulldogs to the No. 7 seed.

Walt Lemon scored 16 points and Dyricus Simms-Edwards had 14 for 10th-seeded Bradley (7-25), which shot 34 percent from the field and hit just 4 of 20 3-point attempts.

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Drake, which beat Bradley for the third time this season, dominated inside with a 40-22 advantage on points in the paint.

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