VALPARAISO, Ind. – The Drake University men's basketball team led by four of its student-athletes from The Region fended off Valparaiso, 71-65 in its final road game of the regular season inside ARC on Wednesday night.

"It was a 40 minute grinder for us," head coach Darian Devries said. If you go 1-for-10 from beyond the arc on the road and are able to pull out a win, it means you did a lot of other good things right."

Both teams got off to a slow offensive start. The Bulldogs (21-9, 12-5 in Missouri Valley Conference) took advantage of a Valpo (13-16, 6-11) turnover with 12:43 left in the opening half when D.J. Wilkins buried a trey from the wing for an 11-9 advantage.

Six minutes later, the Beacons led by half a dozen (25-19) after Kevion Taylor connected from long distance. Drake immediately responded with an 8-0 run capped off by a turnaround jumper from Tucker DeVries with 2:20 remaining in the first half. DeVries closed the first frame with a similar shot to put Drake ahead, 31-29 at halftime.

The score was tied, 36-36 nearly five minutes into the second half before Drake ventured another 8-0 run for a 44-36 lead at the 12:11 mark when Darnell Brodie muscled his way inside.

Roman Penn sped down the court for a transition layup and 54-47 lead with 5:29 remaining in the second half. Kevion Taylor and Sheldon Edwards sank back-to-back 3-pointers as the Beacons clawed their way back within a single point at 56-55 with 4:22 left in regulation.

Wilkins and Penn kicked it into another gear to help Drake close out the road victory. The duo scored Drake's final four field goals of the game as the visitors held off Valparaiso.

"We were able to make shots late and got stops," Wilkins said. "We love playing for each other. We feel confident playing on the road. We are looking forward to our final home game and playing in the Knapp Center on Saturday."

The Bulldogs enter the final leg of a busy stretch of four games in eight games. They'll be back in action inside the Knapp Center on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. against Southern Illinois for Senior Day and the Suit Up Against Pediatric Cancer Game.

TEAM NOTES
•Drake, winning its fourth straight game, improved its record to 21-9 to mark the fourth straight season the program has won 21 games and eighth time in program history.
•The Bulldogs moved to 12-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference, marking the third time in the last four seasons (including two straight years) the Bulldogs have won 12 or more conference games.
•Drake improved its road record to 8-2, including 7-2 in the MVC.
•This marked Darian DeVries' 91st career coaching victory at Drake, tying him with Bob Ortegel (1974-81) for No. 4 on the school all-time coaching victory list. 
•DeVries improved his head-to-head coaching record against Valparaiso to 6-2.
*Drake shot 53.4 percent from the floor (31-58), marking the third time in the last four games the Bulldogs shot 50 percent or better. 
•The Bulldogs improved to 8-1 when shooting 50 percent or better this season
•Drake tied a season high with six blocked shots, marking the sixth game this season the Bulldogs have blocked five or more shots in a contest.
•Drake improved to 14-3 when leading at halftime.
•The Bulldogs outrebounded Valparaiso, 34-26, moving to 18-2 when outrebounding opponents this season.
•The Bulldogs tied a season low with one three-point basket, making 1 of 10 shots beyond the arc.
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
•Guard D.J. Wilkins led Drake with 17 points, including 11 points in the first half. 
•ShanQuan Hemphill came off the bench scoring 13 points, while grabbing eight rebounds.
•Guard Roman Penn added 11 points, including nine in the second half, while dishing out a season-high nine assists.
•Tucker DeVries scored eight points, moving into No. 2 on the Drake freshman single-season scoring list at 416 points, passing Luke McDonald who scored 412 points in 2000-01.
•Senior swingman Garrett Sturtz tallied eight points to become the third player on the Drake squad to score 1,000 career points this season. Sturtz now has scored 1,005 points.
•Senior forward Tremell Murphy collected a game-high nine rebounds.
•Murphy also blocked three shots to move into a tie for No. 7 on the school career blocked shot list at 73 with Brent Heemskerk (2004-09).
•Murphy has led the team in blocked shots in 11 games and has now blocked 10 shots in his last four games.
•Penn hit all three free throws attempts, extending his consecutive free throw streak to 14.
•Penn moved his school record career assists mark to 411.
 
THE SERIES
•Drake, earning back-to-back victories against Valparaiso, tied the all-time series record against the Beacons to 8-8.
•The Bulldogs have won four of the last five meetings against Valparaiso.