DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Drake men's basketball team kept coming back and coming back and finally pulled out a 75-69 victory over Saint Louis at the Knapp Center on Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs (8-1) stormed back from a 19-point deficit early in the second half to tie it, fell behind by seven, then rallied again to win for the 10^th straight time at home and extend their non-conference home winning streak to 41.

But it sure wasn't easy.

Drake fell behind 41-25 at halftime – the Bulldogs' season low for a half – and Saint Louis (5-5) increased its lead to 44-25 with 18:45 left. Conor Enright then hit a 3-pointer from the left corner and Bulldogs caught fire.

They picked up the pace, forced some turnovers and completed a 20-4 run with 13 straight points to cut the lead to 48-45 on freshman Kevin Overton's fastbreak layup with 13:14 to play. A little more than 2 minutes later, it was tied at 51 when Tucker DeVries fed Overton cutting along the baseline and the freshman turned a layup into a three-point play.

The Billikens regained their footing and pulled ahead again, opening a 63-56 lead on Kellen Thames' dunk. But the Bulldogs charged back again. Atin Wright converted a three-point play off DeVries' inbounds pass and Colby Garland's steal set up Overton for another fastbreak layup that lifted the Bulldogs into a 66-65 lead.

They never trailed again.

"I thought our guys did a tremendous job of flipping the switch primarily at the defensive end," head coach Darian DeVries said. "That's where it all starts for us when we're good on the defensive end and we can get out and run in transition. Then our offense starts to flow a little bit better."

Darnell Brodie drew a roar from the crowd with a behind-the-back pass to Wright on a give-and-go for a layup and DeVries – who had not made a basket since the 18:24 mark in the first half – buried a huge 3 for a 71-65 lead with 1:05 remaining.

"It was electric in here," Darian DeVries said. "That's what happens when the home team is coming back. What a lift the crowd gave us. It was loud in here. As loud as maybe I've heard it during a comeback here. I thought it was incredible and inspired our defense."

It was just a matter of making free throws after that and the Bulldogs sank enough to hold on, Wright capping things with a pair with 1.2 seconds left.

Wright finished with 22 points to lead the Bulldogs and Overton had 21 on 8-for-13 shooting – one point short of his career high.  Brodie scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half and grabbed six rebounds and DeVries notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He struggled with his shot, going 3-for-13, but handed out five assists and made three steals.

Freshman Colby Garland scored just one point, but had three assists, a steal and frustrated the Billikens' leading scorer, Gibson Jimerson, with his defense. Jimerson finished with 23 points but had only seven in the second half, going 1-for-8 from the field and committing five turnovers.

The Bulldogs did a better job getting the ball inside over the final 20 minutes after being outscored 18-4 in the paint in the first half. They also cleaned up their floor game, turning it over only once in the second half after committing nine turnovers in the first half. Their passing also was sharp, logging assists on 15 of their 22 field goals.

It looked early on that any kind of comeback wouldn't be necessary. The Bulldogs made their first four shots, including 3-pointers from DeVries, Enright and Overton, to open an 11-5 lead. But Saint Louis responded with 12 straight points to pull ahead and Drake missed 17 of its last 21 shots in the half, putting the Bulldogs in a deep hole.

But they found a way to climb out.

It was the 85^th meeting between the longtime rivals but just the third in the last 38 years. The Billikens, once a Drake rival in the Missouri Valley Conference, had won the last two games in the series, including an 83-75 win in Saint Louis last season.

Drake hits the road for its next game, a matchup at Nevada on Saturday. Tipoff time is 6:30 p.m. CST.

TEAM NOTES
•Drake is on a five-game winning streak this season.
•The Bulldogs have won 41 consecutive non-conference games at home dating back to 2016.
•Drake earned its 10th straight home victory dating back to last year while improving its home record under Coach Darian DeVries to 74-9 since the 2018-19 campaign.
•The Bulldogs overcame their largest deficit of the season (19 points).
•Drake won its 28^th game under head coach Darian DeVries when trailing at halftime while the Bulldogs improved their record this season to 2-1 when losing at the half.
•After committing nine turnovers in the first half, Drake only turned over the ball once in the second half.
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
•Junior guard Atin Wright scored 20 or more points for the third time this season and 19^th time in his career.
•Wright made a season-high 10 free throws.
•Freshman guard Kevin Overton recorded his second 20+ scoring game of the season, one point shy of his career-high.
•Graduate student forward Darnell Brodie scored in double figures for the seventh time this season and has grabbed at least six rebounds in all eight games he has played in.
•Tucker DeVries earned his first double-double of the season, the second of his career.
•DeVries dished out five assists, one shy of his season-high. 
 
THE SERIES
•This marked the first time Drake and Saint Louis played in Des Moines since Dec. 9, 1985.
•Saint Louis leads the all-time series that dates back to 1928, 54-31.