DES MOINES, Iowa — The Drake University men’s basketball team broke a three-game losing streak in a big way, riding a torrid start to a 73-51 victory over Evansville at the Knapp Center on Wednesday night.
On a night promoting the Drake Relays, the Bulldogs made their first six shots and nine of their first 10 in racing to a 19-3 lead. They built their biggest halftime lead of the season, 47-15, and led by as many as 38 before coasting to their seventh straight victory over the Purple Aces.
Drake avoided its longest losing streak since dropping the final 10 games of the 2016-17 season and improved to 18-9 overall and 9-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference. This the fourth straight season the Bulldogs have won at least 18 games and the fourth time in the last five seasons they’ve won at least nine league games.
Evansville gave Drake all it could handle in a 60-59 loss at home last month but never challenged the Bulldogs in this one and fell to 6-19 and 2-12.
“I thought we were aggressive on both ends of the floor,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “Our offense and defense complimented each other. The first half was probably our best half of basketball this season. I’m really proud of how we bounced back.”
The one-sided game allowed DeVries to go deep into his bench. Twelve players saw action nine of them scored. Tucker DeVries led the way with 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting and moved past Reed Timmer into third place in scoring by a freshman with 370 points. He was the only Drake starter to play more than 20 minutes in the game.
ShanQuan Hemphill added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Garrett Sturtz and Okay Djamgouz each scored 12. Sturtz made all six of his shots – each one was a layup – while Djamgouz went 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
Roman Penn matched his season high with six assists. He made the only two shots he took and added two steals.
Drake shot 73.3 percent in the first half (22-for-30) and 55.2 percent for the game. At the other end, the Bulldogs held Evansville to seven first-half field goals and 25.9 percent shooting while taking control of the game. Blake Sisley led the Aces with 14 points and Blaise Beauchamp scored 12.
Sturtz set the tone at the outset by getting to the basket and scoring the game’s first six points. He made a reverse layup on a pass from Penn, a fastbreak layup after Penn stole the ball and a third layup on a feed from Tremell Murphy. The Bulldogs followed that early burst with a succession of close-in shots as they continually broke down the Evansville defense.
Eleven of Drake’s first 13 field goals were layups and the Bulldogs closed the half by making their final eight shots. That streak grew to nine in a row when Murphy knocked down a jumper to start the second half. Hemphill followed with a dunk on a lob from DeVries and when Djamgouz buried a 3 from the left corner, the Bulldogs led 59-21.
The final 28-point margin was Drake’s biggest in a Valley game since the Bulldogs beat Northern Iowa 80-59 on Feb. 10 last season.
“Every win this time of year is big,” DeVries said. “Certainly, tonight was no different. It was a blessing for us to give some of our players a much-needed rest as this final stretch approaches.”
Next up for the Bulldogs is a challenging game at Loyola at 5 p.m. on Saturday. They’ll return home to play Indiana State next Monday night.
