VALPARAISO, Ind. – Drake men's basketball overcame a slow start for an 83-65 win to open Missouri Valley Conference play at the ARC on Wednesday night.
 
"Valpo is extremely fast and confident," head coach Darian DeVries said. "I thought we settled on the offensive end and they had us on our heels defensively in the first half. Once we got some post-touches, we were effective."
 
Darnell Brodie scored the first two baskets of the game for Drake (6-1, 1-0) and Valpo (4-3, 0-1) responded with a 9-0 run over the next 4:27 that was snapped by a Brodie mid-range jumper from the right elbow with 11:30 to play in the first half.
 
Trailing 16-7, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run of their own capped off by a Conor Enright wing triple at the 8:20 mark of the first half.
 
Back-to-back treys by Isaiah Stafford forced a Drake timeout with 5:24 left in the opening half as the visitors were behind 26-18. The Bulldogs buckled down on defense and chipped away to take a 31-30 lead in the final two minutes of the half after a turnaround bucket by Brodie.
 
Drake took a slim 37-36 lead into halftime.
 
Both teams exchanged baskets evenly to begin the second half. Kevin Overton drilled a right wing trifecta to give the Bulldogs a 53-50 advantage with 12:25 remaining in the second half.
 
Halfway through the second half, the Bulldogs created a double-digit advantage that reached 64-52 with 9:05 to play after a fastbreak layup by Atin Wright.
 
The Bulldogs kept the pressure on and finished the game shooting 50.0 percent (29-for-58) from the field for an 83-65 road win.
 
Brodie matched his scoring career-high of 21 points while ripping down nine rebounds and dishing out three assists. Kyron Gibson had a well-balanced game of 11 points and three assists off the bench. Tucker DeVries has scored 16 points in back-to-back games to pair with six rebounds.
 
"Brodie was a lot down low for them," Darian DeVries said. "He was critical for us. The second half was a solid effort defensively and we executed on the other end to pull away. "Our guys off the bench were just terrific."

The two-game MVC stretch will conclude at the Knapp Center against Missouri State on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m.

TEAM NOTES

• In its first true road game of the season, Drake improved to 31-26 on the road under head coach Darian DeVries.
• Drake improved to 5-0 when leading at the half this season and 98-13 in the Darian DeVries era.
• Drake outrebounded Valpo, 39-35.
• The Bulldog bench contributed 21 points.
• Under Darian DeVries, Drake is 3-3 in MVC opening games.
• Since 2018, Drake is 58-1 when scoring 80 points or more.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Darnell Brodie has scored in double figures five times out of six games this season.
• Brodie matched his career-high of 21 points.
• Kevin Overton added 10 points with half of his scoring output coming from the charity stripe.
• Conor Enright scored eight points and had three assists.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Drake leads the all-time series, 11-8 and has won five consecutive games against Valpo.
• The Bulldogs improved to 6-6 against the Beacons in Valparaiso.