DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake men's basketball team, returning to Missouri Valley Conference play, survived a frigid first half and a scare at the end to turn back Valparaiso 68-63 in front of a raucous crowd at the Knapp Center on Thursday night.
 
Darnell Brodie scored a season-high 19 points to lead the Bulldogs (11-3, 2-1 MVC), who won for the 10^th straight time at home. But there was plenty of adversity along the way.
 
Drake shot just 25.9 percent (7-for-27) in the first half, which ended with Valparaiso (6-8, 0-3) leading 26-24, then caught fire in the second half. Tucker DeVries sparked an 18-3 run that lifted the Bulldogs into a 48-38 lead and they appeared to be in complete control when Garrett Sturtz sank two free throws to make it 65-55 with 56.8 seconds left.
 
"The first half was fine except for that we missed layups," head coach Darian DeVries said. "We converted our layups in the second half."
 
But the Beacons weren't finished. They rattled off six points in 11 seconds to cut the lead to 65-61 and trailed just 65-63 when Connor Barrett reached up in a crowd to tip in a missed shot with 16.4 seconds remaining.
 
The threat died there. Roman Penn sank two free throws and Sturtz added one to finish it off for the Bulldogs, the preseason favorites for the Valley championship.
Brodie, playing aggressively from the start, attacked the basket with a variety of shots in finishing 8-for-10 from the field and grabbed nine rebounds to just miss a double-double.
 
DeVries scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half after going 1-for-7 in the opening 20 minutes and Garrett Sturtz notched his 11^th career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, which moved him past Sam Roark into third place in the school's career list. Sturtz ran his career total to 783 – one more than Roark. Jonathan Cox is just ahead of Sturtz with 817 rebounds.
 
Graduate senior Roman Penn kept things together when the Bulldogs were struggling and turned in a solid all-around game with 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting, five assists, five rebounds, a steal and no turnovers, not to mention those two key free throws at the end.
 
Valparaiso got 15 points from Ben Krikke and 14 from Kobe King.
 
The Beacons caused problems early with their size, rolling to the basket for layups and controlling the area around the rim. The Bulldogs eventually cut that off but couldn't capitalize on the offensive end as shot after shot rimmed out. With 13 minutes gone, the Bulldogs had managed only five field goals.
 
They kept it close with their free throw shooting and after trailing by as many as five points, cut the lead to 26-24 at the break when Sturtz converted a three-point play off a spinning layup. Drake was in striking distance despite missing 10 of its final 11 shots in the first half.
 
Valpo pulled to a 35-30 lead early in the second half before the Bulldogs started finding their range. DeVries hit a fadeaway, then took a pass from Penn in transition and buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to tie it at 35. That was just the beginning.
 
Sturtz stole the ball on Valpo's next possession and took it in for a layup, Penn drove for a basket in transition, Brodie banked in a reverse layup after grabbing an offensive rebound and Sturtz worked his way inside for a bucket to finish a 13-0 run that made it 43-35.
 
Joe Hedstrom interrupted the run with a 3, but DeVries knocked down a jumper, then banked in a shot as he was knocked to the floor. After a timeout, he sank the free throw to complete the three-point play and stretch the lead to 48-38.
 
A quick 7-0 run that DeVries started with a 3 on a feed from Sturtz gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead, 61-50, with 4:56 left. It wouldn't hold, but the Bulldogs made the plays they needed to survive.
 
After all those struggles in the first half, Drake hit 10 of 11 shots during one stretch in the second half and shot 58.6 percent in the final period to finish at 43 percent for the game.
 
"I thought we were pretty solid defensively during both halves," Darian DeVries said. "I'm proud of the way the guys responded after halftime and we picked up our level of intensity."
 
Drake heads out on the road for its next two games. First up is Missouri State at 2 p.m. on New Year's Day, followed by a Wednesday, Jan. 4 visit to Southern Illinois.
 
Team Notes
•Drake, winning its third straight game, improved its record to 11-3.
•The Bulldogs also won their second straight league game while improving its Missouri Valley Conference record to 2-1.
•Drake extended its home game winning streak to 11 games dating back to last year.
•Drake out rebounded Valparaiso, 38-32, including a 20-12 advantage in the second half.
•Drake shot 58.6 percent from the floor (17-29) in the second half after making just seven baskets in the first half.
•The 24 points scored by Drake in the first half were the second fewest points in the first half this season, trailing only 23 against Mississippi State Dec. 20.
*Drake tied a season low with three three-point baskets, while posting a season low with just 14 three-point attempts.
•Drake closed out the first half missing 10 of its last 11 shots but recovered in the second half making 10 of 11 shots while turning a 30-25 deficit into a 48-38 advantage following a three-point play by Tucker DeVries with 11:31 left in the game.
•Drake improved to 8-0 when outrebounding opponents this season and 80-13 during the Darian DeVries coaching era.
•Drake is 5-0 this season when allowing opponents 69 points or less and 40-12 during the Darian DeVries coaching era. 
•This also marked the first Thursday game Drake played this season while improving its record to 11-2 under the DeVries coaching era when playing on Thursdays.
 
Individual Notes
•Senior center Darnell Brodie led Drake with 19 points, including 13 in the second half, while collecting nine rebounds.
•Sophomore guard Tucker DeVries added 18 points, including 13 in the second half.
*Graduate guard Garrett Sturtz enjoyed his 11th career double-double (second this season) with 14 points and 11 rebounds. It also marked his 12th career double-figure rebounding game (third this season).
•Sturtz also moved into No. 3 on the Drake career rebounding list at 793 boards, passing Sam Roark who collected 792 from 1986-90.
•Brodie (13), DeVries (13) and Sturtz (9) combined for 35 of Drake's 44 points in the second half.
•Graduate guard Roman Penn chipped in with 10 points and a team-high five assists.
•Penn also extended his streak of consecutive free throws made to 12.
•Brodie enjoyed his sixth straight game collecting six or more rebounds.
 
The Series
•Drake, winning its third straight game against Valparaiso, improved its series record to 9-8 against the Beacons.
•Drake owns a 5-1 record against Valparaiso in games played in Des Moines.