DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Drake University men's basketball team put together its best shooting performance of the season to take care of business in an 87-65 win over Purdue Fort Wayne in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational at the Ocean Center on Saturday (March 19).

"I thought we were really locked in," head coach Darian DeVries said. "Obviously, late in the year we were banged up, so it was nice to get some rest and we came out fresh to get into our transition game. We had great movement offensively. Our cutting was good, which led to some easy layups."

Drake (25-10) got off to a fast start after Tucker DeVries nabbed a steal and dished the ball to Garrett Sturtz for a layup on the other end as well as a 9-2 lead within the opening two minutes.

Purdue Fort Wayne (21-12) cut the deficit to 20-18 at the 12:03 mark of the first half, but the Bulldogs responded with a 7-0 run capped off by a wing triple from Okay Djamgouz.

"We struggled from three-point range late in the year so Okay (Djamgouz) helped us out on both ends of the floor," DeVries added.

ShanQuan Hemphill converted back-to-back alley-oop slam dunks for a 39-26 Drake advantage with 90 seconds to play before halftime. The Bulldogs led at halftime by a score of 41-28.  

Another 7-0 spurt kicked off the second half for Drake as Tucker DeVries' second chance layup put the Bulldogs up by 20, 48-28 with 17:32 remaining in the second half.

En route to six assists, Tucker DeVries skipped a nice pass to Nate Ferguson for a thunderous jam and 62-40 lead with 11:58 to go in regulation.
Djamgouz's three-point barrage continued in the second half as he made a career-high six shots from beyond the arc and finished with his career-best of 20 points.

Jonah Jackson entered the contest with five minutes left and promptly buried a trifecta as Drake was cruising, 78-50.

The Bulldogs coasted in the CBI opening round with an 87-65 victory to play the winner of No. 8 seed VMI and No. 9 seed UNC Wilmington on Monday (March 21) at 12 p.m. CT inside the Ocean Center during the quarterfinal round.

TEAM NOTES
•Drake improved its record to 25-10, marking the second straight season the Bulldogs have won 25 games and fourth time in program history (1968-69, 2007-08, 2020-21, 2022-23).
•This marked the second straight year Drake has won a game in a post-season tournament after claiming a victory past Wichita State in the 2021 NCAA Tournament First Four.
•Darian DeVries improved his record to 95-39 at Drake moving into a tie for No. 3 on the school all-time coaching victory list with Gary Garner (1981-88).
•Drake posted three season highs: field goal percentage-.590; baskets made-36; and assists-22.
•Drake shot 59 percent (36-61) including a sizzlin 64.3 percent (18-28) in the half while improving its record to 9-1 when shooting 50percent or better in a game this season.
•Drake had five players reach double-figure scoring, while improving its record to 6-1 when that feat occurred. 
•Drake made 11 three-point baskets, improving its record to 8-1 when making 10 or more three-point baskets in a game.
•Drake collected nine steals, marking the 16th time in the last 20 games that the Bulldogs have collected seven or more steals in a meet. 
•Drake improved its record to 41-1 under coach Darian DeVries when scoring 80 or more points in a game.
•The Bulldogs outrebounded Purdue Fort Wayne, 32-29,  improving their record to  21-2 this season  when out-rebounding opponents.
•Drake moved to 17-3 this season when leading at half.
 
 INDIVIDUAL NOTES
•Okay Djamgouz paced a balanced scoring attack with a career-high 20 points, while making a career-high six high three-point baskets
•Garrett Sturtz and Tucker DeVries added 14 points apiece, while ShanQuan Hemphill had 11 points and Tremell Murphy 10.
•Tucker DeVries moved into No. 6 on the Missouri Valley Conference all-time freshman single season scoring list with 488 points, passing Milton Doyle of Loyola of Chicago who scored 478 points in 2013-14.
•One game after setting a career high with five blocked shots against Loyola of Chicago, Tucker DeVries tied a career high with six assists. That allowed DeVries to move into third on the Drake freshman single-season assists list at 74, passing Reed Timmer (2014-15) who had 70
*Tucker DeVries made two three-point baskets to move into a tie with Reed Timmer (2014-15) for second on the Drake single-season freshman three-point basket list at 74.
•Tucker DeVries has scored in double figures in a team-high 30 games this season.
•Djamgouz became the third Drake player to score 20 or more points this season, joining Tucker Devries (five games) and DJ Wilkins (one game)
•Ayo Akinwole tied a season high with five assists.
•Roman Penn dished out four assists, pushing his school career record total to 432.
•Darnell Brodie collected a career high four steals. He also led Drake with seven rebounds. 
 
THE SERIES
•Drake improved its record to 2-0 against Purdue Fort Wayne after earlier winning the inaugural meeting between the schools, 74-64, Dec. 8, 2012 in Des Moines.