DES MOINES, Iowa – Veteran guard Roman Penn made a timely return to help the Drake men's basketball team pull away late for an 80-72 victory over Wofford at the Knapp Center on Monday night.

The Bulldogs (2-0) did not shake its opponent from the Southern Conference until a 17-4 run finally put it out of reach with 2 and a half minutes left, sending them to their 34^th straight non-conference victory at home.

Penn, who sat out the season-opening victory over IUPUI while recovering from a foot injury, was a major contributor in that burst and ended up scoring seven of Drake's final 12 points.
Senior transfer Sardaar Calhoun led the Bulldogs with 17 points – 11 in the second half -- on 7-for-14 shooting. Garrett Sturtz went 7-for-9 from the field in scoring 16 points, while Tucker DeVries had 14 points and a team-best nine rebounds, a career-high.

Penn played just under 18 minutes and finished with nine points, a team-high five assists, three rebounds and two steals. Darnell Brodie helped out with six points and seven rebounds.
Wofford (1-2), which has played in the NCAA tournament five times since 2010, stayed close with its 3-point shooting and pulled into a tie at 58 on Corey Tripp's layup with 9:23 left.
That's when the Bulldogs took over.

Calhoun buried a 3 from the right wing and Drake went on to score eight straight points and 17 of the next 21 to open a 75-62 lead with 2:28 to play. Penn hit a pull-up jumper and knocked in a 3 during the spurt and Brodie finished it with a sweet jump hook.

Capping his return to the floor, Penn hit two free throws for the Bulldogs' final points with 55.5 seconds left.
Tripp led Wofford with 18 points, including 4-for-6 3-point shooting, and freshman Jackson Paveletzke added 15 with two 3s. The Terriers finished 11-for-26 from long range and shot 47.3 percent overall.

Drake shot 57 percent in the second half and 50.8 percent for the game. The Bulldogs went just 5-for-24 from 3-point range but shot 68.3 percent (28-of-41) from inside the arc. That helped the Bulldogs pile up a 46-28 edge in points in the paint.

Sturtz scored six quick points to help Drake jump to a 13-5 lead, but Wofford came right back, and the Bulldogs found themselves fighting off the Terriers the rest of the way.

Drake led 36-33 at halftime and stretched the lead to 49-43 before Wofford made another charge, hitting four straight 3s to tie it at 55. Calhoun converted an old-fashioned three-point play off an athletic drive to the basket to break that tie before Wofford pulled even one last time.

Drake heads out on the road for the first time when it plays three games in four days in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, as part of the Paradise Jam starting Friday at noon CST against Buffalo.

TEAM NOTES
•This marked Drake's 34th consecutive non-conference home victory.
•Drake shot 50 percent or better for the second straight game, hitting 50.8 percent (33-65) including 57.1 percent in the second half (16-28)
•After committing 18 turnovers compared to 10 assists in its season opener against IUPU, Drake improved its floor game with 14 assists compared to just three turnovers tonight. 
•Drake outrebounded Wofford, 33-30, including a 17-12 advantage in the second half.
•Drake improved to 43-1 when scoring 80 or more points during the Darian DeVries coaching era.
•Drake improved its record to 75-10 during the Darian DeVries era when leading at half.
•Drake improved its record 8-3 on Mondays during the Darian DeVries coaching era.
•Drake attempted its first free throw of the game with 14:33 left in the second half when Garrett Sturtz sank the first of two free throws.
•This was the second of six meetings between schools from the Southern Conference and Missouri Valley Conference with Drake's victory evening the matchups to 1-1 after Furman beat Belmont on Nov. 11.
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
•Sardaar Calhoun came off the bench to lead Drake with 17 points, including 11 in the second half. 
•Fifth-year senior Garrett Sturtz added 16 points, hitting seven of nine shots, while grabbing five rebounds.
•Sophomore forward Tucker DeVries scored 14 points along with a career-high nine rebounds.
 •Guard Roman Penn, coming off a foot injury, collected nine points and five assists in his season debut. He scored seven of Drake's last 12 points in a 2:54 span.
•Penn came off the bench with 14:48 left in the first half. He took a shot and collected a steal in his first 40 seconds on the court.
•Darnell Brodie collected seven rebounds including five boards in the second half.
 
THE SERIES
•This was the inaugural meeting between the schools.