NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Valparaiso opened the second half with an 18-5 run to cruise to a 66-46 win over the Drake University men's basketball team in the first game of the Challenge In Music City Friday (Nov. 28) evening.

Drake was led by Jordan Daniels' (Fontana, Calif.) 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. As a team, Drake shot 35 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from the three point arc as the offense was hampered by a 15 turnovers. Gary Ricks, Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif.) added eight points while Karl Madison (Springfield, Ill.) and Reed Timmer (New Berlin, Wis.) each had four assists. Every Bulldog that saw at least two minutes of action recorded a rebound in the loss with Jacob Enevold Jensen (Lunderskov, Denmark) hauling in a team-high six.

Valparaiso was paced by 21 points from Darien Walker. Walker scored 11 of the Crusaders' points in the spurt to open up the second half while Keith Carter ended his evening with 15 points. Valpo's length and size led to 22-8 advantage in points in the paint and 16 points off of Drake turnovers.

“We need to be much tougher than we are, those were men we played against tonight,” said Drake head coach Ray Giacoletti. “We need to step that up and do the same things [Valparaiso was doing] every night.”

The Bulldogs' defense limited Valparaiso to 43.6 percent shooting, however the Crusaders converted on 6-of-10 shots from the three-point arc in the second half after a 1-of-11 showing in the opening period.

“If you had told me we'd hold them to 43 percent shooting, I would probably be ok with that,” Giacoletti said. “But the offensive rebounds [13] and turnovers [15] neutralized that.”

Both teams struggled offensively in the first half with just nine combined points scored through the first eight minutes of the contest and Valparaiso holding a slim 6-3 lead during that span.

The Crusaders followed that with a 7-0 spurt to take a 10-point lead before Drake answered with back-to-back three-pointers from Chris Caird (Daventry, England) and Daniels to trim that margin to five points.

However, the Bulldogs would get no closer than that for the remainder of the half as both offenses slowly started to get into gear with Valparaiso taking a 29-21 lead into the locker room.

Daniels led all scorers with 10 points in the opening half as four of Drake's seven field goals were from behind the arc. The Crusaders converted on just one of their 11 three-point attempts in the opening half.

Walker wasted little time in the second half to blow open the game for Valparaiso with eight points in the first two minutes of the period to deliver a body blow Drake never recovered from. The Crusaders' lead remained at 18 or higher for the final 13 minutes of the game to propel the team to its fourth-straight win.

Drake returns to action Saturday, Nov. 29, with its second game as part of the Challenge In Music City with a 5 p.m. contest against Portland at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium.

“That's what these things are all about,” Giacoletti said. “Finding out what you're made of, overcoming adversity and finding a way to be better tomorrow than we were tonight.”