TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Drake men's basketball team took to the court in a highly anticipated Missouri Valley Conference matchup against the Indiana State Sycamores from the Hulman Center on Saturday evening. It was the first meeting between the two programs since last year's MVC Tournament Championship game and even though the two squads looked different in terms of rosters this time around, the Bulldogs displayed a dominant showing to improve to 16-2 on the year.
 
The offense for Drake was off to slow start after Isaiah Jackson made the first basket of the game on a floater in the lane. On the other end, Indiana State went on a 7-0 run to gain an early lead.
 
That deficit was quickly erased, however, with Mitch Mascari knocking down shots from the perimeter. The Graduate guard connected on three of the following four makes for Drake, all from distance, to put the Bulldogs ahead 15-11 at the 9:51 mark.
 
With just over three minutes remaining in the period Indiana State cut it to a one-point contest, but the Bulldogs pounded the paint on layups and dunks by Isaia Howard and Kael Combs. When the halftime horn sounded, the Bulldogs found themselves ahead 32-25. Mascari paced all scorers with 11, meanwhile Samage Teel led the Sycamores with seven points.
 
Coming out of the break, the Bulldogs blitzed the Sycamores with an 8-0 burst to increase their lead to 40-25. Mascari and Daniel Abreu drained a couple of three-pointers and Cam Manyawu finished on a tough inside score to give Drake the 15-point advantage.
 
The Bulldogs expanded their lead going back inside and stretched it out to as many as 19 capitalized on an emphatic throw down from Manyawu with just over 12 minutes to go.
 
Drake kept its foot down on the pedal and its defense continued to frustrate the Sycamores down the stretch. Stirtz led the offensive charge sinking a three-pointer at the 5:21 mark to put him into double-digit points for the half and giving the Bulldogs a 21-point lead, 67-46.
 
The Sycamores tried to mount a comeback attempt with a 7-0 spurt, but it was too little too late as Drake collected its third straight win and improved to 6-2 in conference play.
 
"[Indiana State] probably had a tough couple of practices because they crashed completely different then they had all season,". Drake head coach Ben McCollum said. "They got a lot of 50/50 balls. Defensively they got a lot more active than they had all season, obviously that's why we turned it over so much. I was proud of our guy's execution of the scout."
 
The Bulldogs return to Des Moines for their next contest as they host Valparaiso on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Tipoff from the Knapp Center is slated for 6:30 p.m. for the annual Drake Relays Night contest.
 
Post-Game Notes
—Drake has achieved the third best start in school history with its 16-2 mark — only trailing a 24-1 start by the 2007-08 team and an 18-0 start by the 2020-21 squad.
—Drake improved to 6-2 in the MVC, including a 3-1 league road mark.
—First-year Drake coach Ben McCollum moved his career collegiate coaching record to 410-93, ranking No. 5 among the all-time collegiate coaches in winning percentage at .815, ranking just below legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp and ahead of Hall of Famer John Wooden who led UCLA to 10 NCAA championships.
—Drake, which ranks second in the NCAA in scoring defense (57.3), held Indiana State to a season-low 53 points.
—The Sycamores became the 12th opponent Drake has held to a season low in scoring.
—The Bulldogs, which leads the MVC in steals (9.0 avg.) collected 11 steals, marking the ninth game Drake has accumulated 10 or more steals.
—Drake owned a 25-13 advantage in points off turnovers.
—Drake shot 52.9 percent from the floor (27-51) moving to 7-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the floor.
—Drake owned a 32-25 halftime lead, improving to 12-1 when leading at halftime this season.                                                                    
—Drake, which leads the MVC in rebounding margin (plus 7.6), out-rebounded Indiana State, 32-29 while moving to 15-1 when outrebounding opponents this season.
—There were no ties and two lead changes
 
Individual Notes
—Graduate forward Mitch Mascari scored a game-high 19 points, making five of seven three-point baskets. It marked the 12th time this season he has made three or more treys in a game and 36th time in a career. It also marked the fourth game this season he has made five-plus treys in a game.
—Sophomore guard Bennett Stirtz added 16 points and a game-high nine assists.
—Stirtz has dished out six-plus assists in 12 games this season.
—Junior swingman Tavion Banks came off the bench scoring 10 points along with five rebounds.
—Sophomore Cam Manyawu grabbed a game-high six rebounds.
—The 19 points by Mascari surpassed his previous MVC high of 12 points, while also surpassing his combined total of just nine points in his previous two games (3-Evansville, 9-Illinois State).
—Drake is 11-1 when Mascari makes three or more three-point baskets in a game.
 
The Series
—Drake, which has won 13 of the last 16 meetings against the Sycamores, improved its lead in the series against Indiana State to 52-49 (17-34 in Terre Haute).
—The Bulldogs snapped a two-game losing streak in Terre Haute, while claiming their first victory in the Hulman Center since earning a 85-67 win Feb. 2, 2022.