DES MOINES, Iowa  - A strong defensive performance and an efficient night on offense allowed the Drake University men's basketball team to coast past Iowa Wesleyan, 104-49, in the Bulldogs' home opener at the Knapp Center Tuesday evening.

The offensive explosion was Drake's first 100-point game since the 2010-11 season and the 55-point margin of victory was the third biggest in school history to move the Bulldogs to 2-0 on the season.

“Tonight we tried to focus on a couple of things, one being our man-to-man defense and the other our offensive execution,” Drake head coach Ray Giacoletti said. “I think we got better at our offensive execution and still need work on defense, but we played a lot of guys and saw some different lineups. I think we were able to get some guys some minutes and touches that they needed under game conditions.”

That defensive focus held Iowa Wesleyan to just 32.7 percent shooting while forcing 17 turnovers with Gary Ricks, Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif. ) recording five steals in addition to his 11 points. Freshman forward Blake Danielak (Georgetown, Texas) led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting while classmate Jacob Enevold Jensen (Lunderskov, Denmark) had 17 points in 17 minutes.

Iowa Wesleyan was led by 10 points for Dion Lightner and nine points, all on three-pointers from Chris Martin.

The Bulldogs took control of the game early with quick points on the board from senior Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa.). The veteran center, who was needed for just 10 minutes, scored seven of the Bulldogs' first 10 points as the offense pounded the ball inside.

“We wanted to get the ball inside and set the tone early,” VanDeest said. “That carried through the rest of the game with Daddy [Ugbede] and Jacob [Enevold].”

The cushion that VanDeest's early spark provided allowed Enevold to get valuable minutes early and often as his development continues.

“It was great experience,” Enevold said of his role in the win. “It's a whole new setup for me and I was just doing what coach wanted me to do and wasn't thinking about points.”

Eleven first-half turnovers from Iowa Wesleyan allowed Drake the opportunity to maximize its offensive efficiency. VanDeest and Enevold's scoring in the paint helped the Bulldogs to shoot 59 percent in the half while the defense held Iowa Wesleyan to just 22 first-half points.

A missed dunk that resulted in Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark.) being assessed a technical foul was the only speed bump in the Bulldogs offense in the first half. However, that was  immediately followed by a three-pointer by junior Chris Caird (Daventry, England) restarted the production. Hawley finished the game with six points while Caird added three assists to his three-pointer.

Richard Carter (Detroit, Mich.), the reigning MVC Player of the Week who finished last week's game against UIC with an NCAA-leading 38 points, came out hot at the start of the second half, scoring the first eight points of the half before finishing with 14 points on the night. Danielak followed suit, putting up 13 points in the half, 12 of which came off 3-pointers. Junior point guard Karl Madison (Springfield, Ill.) contributed to the Bulldogs' offensive success with a career high nine assists to just two turnovers on a night that saw the Bulldogs commit just five turnovers.

“It's something this team needed to start to believe a little bit,” Giacoletti said of the confidence building win. “Winning on the road Saturday was huge as well.”

Drake will return to the court on Saturday to face Saint Mary's. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. CST in Moraga, Calif., against the perennial top-25 program.

“The opponent on Saturday is one of the better West Coast teams, period,” said Giacoletti, who spent six season coaching against Saint Mary's while an assistant at Gonzaga. “They just went through an eight-year period of having an NBA point guard and they have a five-man that's one of the best five-men on the West Coast.”