Drexel downs Davidson

Damion Lee began the game on the bench. He ended it with the ball in his hands, celebrating Drexel's biggest win of the season.

Dragons coach Bruiser Flint - and everyone else - has been waiting to see what finally made an appearance Saturday night at the Daskalakis Center in a 69-58 victory over Davidson.

Defensively sound, dominant on the glass, Drexel (4-7) looked more like last year's 29-win team than the one that limped through its first 10 games.

"It's about time," Flint said. "I just want to see us play better. Because we've been bad. Our practices have been bad. We've been bad, period."

The recharged Dragons sprinted to a 10-point lead in the second half and held off a late Davidson rally.

Lee led the Dragons with 26 points and 11 rebounds. His emphatic slam restored Drexel's 10-point lead with a minute to play after Davidson (6-5) cut it to four with less than three minutes on the clock.

In a surprise, Lee came off the bench after starting the last six games. He revealed after the game that a foot injury kept him out of practice most of the week.

Drexel's leading scorer entered the game after the first media timeout and immediately made an impact.

He had eight points and six rebounds in the first half as Drexel built a 34-28 advantage at the break.

"When you're in between the lines, there is no injury," Lee said. "It may hurt a little, but you have to play through it."

That statement drew a laugh from Flint.

"You saw he shot every ball that he got, so there's nothing wrong with him," Flint said.

Drexel outrebounded Davidson by 22-6 in the first half and turned the ball over just five times. The Dragons ended up with a 40-14 advantage for the game on the glass.

"We finally came out and played a decent game," Lee said. "Now we just have to keep it rolling."