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Drake University Athletics

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Composite Calendar
Roman Penn at Valpo
Travis Biancardi
57
Drake DRA 18-1,9-1 MVC
74
Winner Valparaiso Valpo 7-12,4-6 MVC
Drake DRA
18-1,9-1 MVC
57
Final
74
Valparaiso Valpo
7-12,4-6 MVC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Drake DRA 24 33 57
Valparaiso Valpo 36 38 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Drake Athletic Communications

No. 25 Men’s Basketball Handed First Loss Of The Season

Valparaiso's defense holds the Bulldogs in check in first loss since March, 2020

VALPARAISO, Ind. - The No. 25 Drake University men's basketball team was unable to overcome a slow start in its first loss of the season, a 74-57 setback at Valparaiso Sunday afternoon. 

The Crusaders became the first blemish on Drake's perfect 18-0 start to the season and were the first team in more than 300 days to defeat the Bulldogs. Valpo's (7-12, 4-6 MVC) defense held Drake (18-1, 9-1 MVC)  to a season-low 57 points on 36.5 percent shooting. 

"They've had 18 games where they were pretty good and tonight we weren't good enough," Drake head coach Darian DeVries said of his team. "League play is hard. There are a lot of good teams and it's a tough league. Valpo is one of them."

Valpo scored the first seven points of the game and would go on to lead for all but two minutes of the contest. The Crusaders led by as many as 20 points midway through the second half as Drake could not find the rally that it had relied upon as of late.

"Valpo played extremely hard and tough," DeVries said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't overcome that or get that run we needed in the second half to get within striking distance and came up on the losing end today."

Roman Penn led Drake with 19 points despite being saddled with foul trouble, while ShanQuan Hemphill added his second-straight double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. 

Seventeen of Penn's points came in the second half, including a three-point play with 4:26 left in the contest that pulled Drake within 10 points at 60-50. That began a stretch of eight-straight points for Penn, but Valpo kept pace to preserve its upset victory.

Valparaiso was led by 15 points from Ben Krikke and 11 points from Jacob Ognacevic. Eight of those points came early in the first half to help Valpo take a 20-12 lead out of the gates.

"I thought in the first half we had some opportunities at the rim that we couldn't convert on and it really affected our offense," DeVries said. "We went through some dry spells where Valpo took advantage of mismatches and did a good job on defense."

The Bulldogs return home, where they are 37-4 over the last three seasons, for a three-game homestand that begins Wednesday against in-state foe UNI. A two-game series against Loyola follows Feb. 13-14.
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