DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake men's basketball team celebrated its return home after winning back-to-back road games with its most impressive offensive outing of the season, a 97-48 romp past Evansville at the Knapp Center on Saturday evening.

A dominating performance inside from Darnell Brodie and Kyron Gibson's career-high five 3-pointers helped the Bulldogs (16-3, 7-1 Missouri Valley Conference) roll up their highest point total and victory margin of the season and remain atop the league standings.

"We got a lot of contributions from everybody," head coach Darian DeVries said. "I am really happy for Kyron Gibson. He's been one of those guys that was terrific all summer hitting shots. He just hasn't had that night where he got to break out and show people what he can do. He has the capability to go off like he did tonight. His bench production is going to be critical for us as we continue to build here."

With players from earlier Drake teams watching from the stands, the Bulldogs hit 10 of their first 11 shots en route to 76 percent shooting in the first half and finished at 64 percent. Drake also matched a season high from distance, going 12-for-25 on 3-pointers. Twelve players got into the game and 11 scored.

"We told the team before the game that guys from decades before came here to watch you play," Darian DeVries said. "They are proud of their time here. They are proud of what they have done as players themselves and they are proud of you and what you are doing. Let's continue to represent our program the way they want it to be represented."

Brodie logged his second straight double-double and 10^th of his career with 18 points and 10 rebounds while playing less than 20 minutes. He made all nine of his shots, including two dunks, and is 31-for-39 from the field (79.5 percent) over the last six games.

The big fella also came up with a steal, which he took to the other end for a dunk, and added an assist on a nifty behind-the-back pass to Atin Wright for a layup.

Gibson also scored 18 points, one short of his season high, going 5-for-9 from deep and 6-for-10 overall.  Wright and Kevin Overton each scored 12 points and Tucker DeVries added 11, plus seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block.

Nate Ferguson got the most from his 14 minutes on the floor, scoring six points on 3-for-3 shooting and grabbing four rebounds.

Drake improved to 62-1 under coach Darian DeVries when scoring at least 80 points, won for the 15^th straight time at home and picked up its ninth consecutive victory over Evansville (11-8, 2-6), which played without injured leading scorer Ben Humrichous. Yacine Toumi led the Purple Aces with 13 points.

The Bulldogs forced 15 turnovers, which led to 26 points, and held the Aces to 35.6 percent shooting, including 4-for-22 from distance.

Drake rocketed to a blazing start, shooting 91 percent in building a 23-8 lead before the second media timeout. Evansville led for all of 12 seconds at 4-2 and it was 6-all when the Bulldogs took control.

Overton soared in for a smooth layup to start a 12-0 run that Gibson capped with a 3 from the right wing for an 18-6 lead. Another Gibson trey and Ferguson's fastbreak layup on a feed from Wright stretched the lead to 15.

A Toumi 3 ended the run, but Overton and Wright buried consecutive treys to launch a 20-0 burst – the Bulldogs' 16th double-double run of the season. It was 31-11 before DeVries, the Valley's No. 2 scorer, got his first points – an old-fashioned three-point play after a steal and layup. The Bulldogs kept pouring it on from there, Brodie scoring on an over-the-shoulder flip and Wright knocking down a 3 to make it 43-11.

The lead went to 45-13 when Gibson shoveled a pass to Brodie, who slammed it home with both hands, and DeVries followed with a deep 3 from the top of the key. Drake led 54-20 at halftime, the most points in any half this season and the largest halftime margin of the season.

The lead would only grow from there as the Bulldogs hit shots from every spot on the floor and Brodie remained perfect, including a personal 6-0 run with a putback, his steal at midcourt and ensuing dunk and a layup on a soft lob from DeVries.

A Carlos Rosario 3 hiked the lead to 80-40 and seconds later, all of the starters were on the bench for good. The Bulldogs ended up getting 40 points from the bench and outscored the Aces 50-22 in the paint.

Drake goes back on the road next week for a 7 p.m. game at Missouri State on Wednesday, then returns home to meet Northern Iowa at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan, 27.

TEAM NOTES
•Drake temporarily grabbed a solo hold of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference, improving to 7-1 in league play.
•All seven of Drake's Missouri Valley Conference wins have been in double figures.
•The Bulldogs, winning their fourth-straight game, improved their overall record to 16-3.
•Drake improved to 10-0 at home this season.
•Drake extended its home winning streak to 15 games.
•The 49-point win was Drake's widest margin of victory this season.
•Drake shot 63.9 percent (39-61), while improving to 9-1 when shooting 50 percent or better in a game this season. It was their first 60+ percent outing since beating St. Ambrose last December (.628 FG).
•Drake is 62-1 in the Darian DeVries era when scoring 80 points or more in a game.
•The 39 made field goals were Drake's most in a single game this year.
•Drake also went 12-27 from three-point territory, matching their season-high in made triples for the third time. Drake also shot the three efficiently with their 12 makes coming on 27 attempts, good enough for 44.4 percent, their second-best showing from range.
•It marked the most efficient game Drake has displayed since shooting 65.4 percent in another win over Evansville during the 2020-21 campaign.
•Drake, which owned a 54-20 halftime lead, improved to 13-0 this season when leading at halftime.
•Drake's 54-point first half was their best offensive performance in any half this season. They also allowed just 20 points in the first half for the third-fewest points allowed in a half this year.
•Drake outrebounded Evansville, 39-23, improving to 9-1 this season when outrebounding opponents and 103-15 during the Darian DeVries coaching era.
•The Bulldogs' 39 rebounds tied their second-most as a team this season.
•Nine team steals also matched the second-highest single-game total in that category.
•The Bulldogs rolled off their 15th and 16^th double-figure scoring runs of the season in the first half.
•Saturday marked the most points Drake scored in a game this season and the most since beating St. Ambrose 124-48 last year.
•Evansville's 48 points were the fewest allowed by the Bulldogs and the fewest allowed by Drake in general since that same matchup vs. St. Ambrose.
•11 of 12 Drake players scored in Saturday's win.
•The Bulldogs dished out 22 assists to equal their team's single-game high for the season.
•Drake is now 4-3 all-time when wearing their alternate Des Moines' Hometown Team uniforms.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
•Kyron Gibson and Darnell Brodie narrowly missed season-high performances with a game-high 18 points apiece. 
•Gibson's scoring came on a new career-best five made three-pointers on nine attempts.
•Brodie also snared 10 rebounds to lead all players to complete his third double-double of the season and 10th of his career. His 18-point, 10-board outing marked his third-straight double-double and fifth double-digit rebound game of his career.
•Junior wing Tucker DeVries notched the 17th double-digit scoring game of the season and 78th of his career with 11 points.
•Kevin Overton and Atin Wright each posted double-digits with 14 points and 12 points, respectively. Wright also distributed a game-high six assists to match his career-high.
•Reserve redshirt sophomore guard Brashon Hall finished with five points, converting his first career field goal and three-point basket.
 
THE SERIES
•The victory extended Drake's win streak over Evansville to nine games.
•The Bulldogs lead the overall series vs. the Purple Aces, 32-28, including a 20-10 mark in games played in Des Moines.