KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Drake men's basketball team took a trip south down I-35 to Kansas City on Tuesday night to challenge Big 12 Conference member Kansas State from the T-Mobile Center as part of the Wildcat Classic. The Bulldogs and Wildcats battled back-and-forth, pushing the game to overtime, but Drake prevailed behind a game-winning shot at the buzzer from Bennett Stirtz.
 
The Bulldogs raced out to an early advantage hitting four of their first six shots from the field and kept Kansas State off the board as the Wildcats went 0-for-5. When the horn sounded for the first media timeout of the night, Drake led 9-0.
 
Drake expanded its lead as the first half continued behind the shooting touch of Mitch Mascari. The graduate guard quickly reached double-digit points draining his first four attempts from beyond the arc giving the Bulldogs a 25-8 lead with 7:39 remaining in the period.
 
After Drake increased its lead to 20 at 29-9 with another three-ball from Mascari, Kansas State responded with a run to close out the half. Over the final 5:27 of the period the Wildcats went on a 18-7 run to draw within single digits at the break, 36-27.
 
During that stretch the Bulldog offense sputtered with five turnovers on its last eight possessions. On the other side, K-State connected a trio of three-pointers from CJ Jones, Max Jones, and David Castillo to spark the spurt.
 
Over the first 20 minutes of play, Mascari paced the Bulldogs going a perfect 6-for-6 from distance for 18 points. Meanwhile, Cam Manyawu added nine points and three rebounds and Stirtz chipped in with six points, two boards and a pair of helpers.
 
Coming out of halftime, Kansas State continued to chip away at the Bulldog lead. The Wildcats sunk their first four shots, all of which were layups or dunks, to make it a one possession contest at 39-36 with 15:25 to go.
 
K-State's hot shooting carried on and the Wildcats eventually took their first lead of the contest on a made jumper from David N'guessan to put the score at 51-49 with 9:04 on the clock.
 
The Bulldogs and Wildcats proceeded to trade buckets down the stretch, but K-State hit on a triple from Dug McDaniel to go up by three points, 60-57, with just over four minutes to play.
 
Drake and K-State once again came even with just :23 seconds remaining as Daniel Abreu sunk a pair from the charity stripe to bring the score to 63-all. After K-State called a timeout with :18 seconds, the Bulldogs defense got the stop it needed to force overtime as Brendan Hausen came up short on a three-point attempt at the buzzer.
 
In the overtime period Drake used a 7-0 run to go up by six, 70-64, as the clock went under two minutes to play. K-State then battled its way back from the free throw line to pull within three with 1:22 remaining.
 
With :13 seconds leftand Kansas State still down by three, the Wildcats went to Hawkins. The Illinois transfer connected on a three-ball, which tied the game at 70, but the Bulldogs remained composed and quickly inbounded the ball to Stirtz as the seconds ticked off the clock.
 
The junior from Liberty, Mo. calmly crossed the halfcourt line, made a move on his defender, pulled up, and found the bottom of the net for the game winning three-pointer.
 
"It had everything to do with their toughness and their will to win," Drake head coach Ben McCollum said. "To Bennett specifically, I've had a lot of good guards and I remember each of their 'we're not going to lose this game' moments and that was one of those moments. That says a lot about him and that says a lot about his teammates to trust him to be able to do that."
 
Mascari led all scorers with 25 points and went 8-for-10 from three-point land. It marked the second time that he has hit eight three-balls in a game this season. Stirtz was right behind with 22 total points to go along with four assists, two rebounds, and three steals. Manyawu was the remaining Bulldog to tally double figures with 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
Drake will head back to Des Moines for its next game as it hosts Green Bay on Saturday, Dec. 21. Tipoff from the Knapp Center is slated for 5 p.m.
 
Team Notes
•Bennett Stirtz scored eight of Drake's 10 points in overtime including the game-winning three-point basket with 3.4 seconds left. 
 
•Drake's 10-0 start marks the second time a Bulldog team has won its first 10 games to open the season after the 2020-21 Drake team opened the season with an 18-0 mark.
 
•Drake is just one of four teams (Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee) remaining in NCAA Division I that is still undefeated.
 
•Drake improved to 5-0 in games played away from the Knapp Center this season (3-0 neutral site, 2-0 road). 
 
•Ben McCollum earned his 404th career collegiate victory, improving his collegiate career coaching record to 404-91 in 16 years.
 
•This was Drake's first overtime game of season and first since outlasting Illinois-Chicago, 107-105, in three overtimes in Chicago, Feb. 28, 2024.
 
•Drake shot a season-high 56.3 percent from three-point range (9-16).
 
•Drake shot 57.1 percent (12-21) from the floor in the first half, marking the third straight game the Bulldogs shot 50 percent or better in the first half after hitting 61.9 percent at Valparaiso and 67.7 percent in the first half against St. Ambrose.
 
•Drake out-rebounded Kansas State, 31-26
 
•There were four lead changes and seven ties in the game
 
Individual Notes
•Drake grad student Mitch Mascari enjoyed his third 20-plus scoring game of season with game-high 25 points, including 19 in the first half.
 
•Mascari tied both a season high and an MVC high eight three-point baskets, marking the third game he has made six or more treys in a game. He made eight of 10 shots beyond the arc.
 
 •Drake junior guard Bennett Stirtz added 22 points, enjoying his fourth 20-plus scoring game of the season (17th of career).

•Stirtz scored eight of Drake's 10 points in overtime including the game-winning three-point basket with 3.4 seconds left. 

•Sophomore forward Cam Manyawu collected 11 points while grabbing seven rebounds.

•Graduate guard Isaiah Jackson dished out a season-high eight assists to go along with a team-high eight rebounds.
 
The Series
•Drake, earning its second straight victory against the Wildcats (W 80-70 in Manhattan, Nov. 25, 2020) still trails in the series to Kansas State, 20-8.