CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Drake men's basketball team began the first leg of its two-game road trip on Saturday afternoon as it took on the Southern Illinois Salukis from the Banterra Center. The Bulldogs walked out of Carbondale with their 20th win of the season defeating SIU, 75-65, following career performances from Tavion Banks and Bennett Stirtz.
 
The Bulldogs gained their first lead off the contest with 15:43 on the clock following a Daniel Abreu three-ball from the top of the key. Drake continued to do damage from long range as its next three makes from the field also came from three-point territory putting the score at 18-13.
 
Drake's offense fell into a lull over the next three minutes of play connecting on 1-of-7 shots from the field during that stretch. A floater in the paint from Abreu kept the Drake lead at five points, 22-17, however, and the defense was also able to hold SIU to 1-of-7 from the field to maintain the five-point advantage.
 
Despite holding Southern Illinois to under 40-percent from the field and 14-percent (1-of-7) from beyond the arc, Drake held just a one-point lead going into the half, 28-27.
 
Stirtz led Drake in scoring at the break with nine points, while Banks and Mitch Mascari added six apiece. SIU stayed in range going a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe and out-rebounded the Bulldogs 16-13. Ali Dibba scored 10 points to lead the Salukis at halftime.
 
When played resumed, the Salukis jumped out in front using a 7-2 run in three minutes of action. Back-to-back turnovers from the Bulldogs led to inside scores for SIU and a Davis Kennard Jr. three-pointer made it a 34-30 ballgame.
 
Drake and Southern Illinois then went into a game of trading buckets with Stirtz carrying the load for the Bulldogs. The junior guard scored seven points to give Drake its lead back, 45-44, just before the under-12 media timeout.
 
The Bulldogs offense kept playing through the combo of Stirtz and Banks to provide the scoring. The duo combined for 14 points through the middle stages of the second half and stretched Drake's lead out to nine points, 61-52, with 6:50 remaining.
 
The two-man game of Banks and Stirtz proved to be the winning the combination down the stretch as the two scored 36 of Drake's 47 second half points. Stirtz ended the game with 30 points, tying his career-high, to go along with five assists and four boards. Banks set a career-high with 21 points, five rebounds, and four steals.
 
"I thought we were able to string stops together," Drake head coach Ben McCollum said. "We were able to score consistently in the second half. Just weren't really able to string stops together until about midway through. Once you get two, three stops in a row that's when you are able to build a lead. Once we got the lead we found something that was working for us and just stuck with it and then made enough plays down the stretch that allowed us to win the game."
 
The Bulldogs will head to Murray, Kentucky, for the second leg of their road trip to challenge the Racers of Murray State on Tuesday, Feb. 4. Tipoff is slated for 6:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN 2.
 
Post-Game Notes
—Drake captured its eighth straight victory, while tying for the second-best start in school history with its 20-2 record (matching the 20-2 start by the 2020-21 squad) and only trailing a 24-1 start by the 2007-08 team.
—Drake's winning percentage (90.9) is tied for second in the nation (behind only Auburn).  Drake's 20 victories are tied for the national lead with Auburn.
—Drake achieved its 12th 20-victory campaign in school history, including the last seven straight seasons dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.
—Drake improved to 10-2 in the MVC, maintaining first place in the league.
—This marked the fifth straight season Drake has won 10-plus league games in the Missouri Valley Conference.
—Drake is 11-1 on the road this season, including a 5-1 league road mark.
—Ben McCollum became just the third coach in school history to win 20 games in first year of coaching at Drake, joining Keno Davis (28-5, 2007-08) and Darrian DeVries (24-10, 2018-19).
—First-year Drake coach Ben McCollum moved his career collegiate coaching record to 414-93, ranking No. 5 among the all-time collegiate coaches in winning percentage at .816, ranking just below legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp and ahead of Hall of Famer John Wooden who led UCLA to 10 NCAA championships.
—This also marked the 14th straight season (previous 13 at Northwest Missouri State) in his coaching career that McCollum had reached 20 wins in a season. The only active NCAA coaches with streaks that long are Mark Few, Gonzaga 25; Bill Self, Kansas 21; Dana Altman, Oregon, 14
—Drake shot 54.3 percent from the floor (25-46), improving to 10-0 this season when shooting better than 50 percent from the floor.
—The Bulldogs have shot 50 percent or better in five of their last six conference games.
—Drake owned a 28-27 halftime lead, improving to 17-1 when leading at halftime this season.            
—The Bulldogs, who lead the MVC in steals (9.2 avg.), collected 11 steals marking the 12th time Drake has collected 10 or more steals in a game.
—The Bulldogs collected 10 offensive rebounds - their 15tth game this season with 10-plus offensive rebounds.
—Drake's bench outscored Southern Illinois, 27-11.
—That marked the seventh game this season Drake's bench had scored 20-plus points and second single-game high trailing only 44 against Bradley and St. Ambrose.
—There was two ties and seven lead changes
 
Individual Notes
—Junior guard Bennett Stirtz enjoyed his 10th 20-plus scoring game of the season, including the 23rd time in his career after scoring a game-high 30 points including 21 in the second half.
—It was his second 30-point scoring game of the season with the previous 30-point game also coming on the road at UIC Jan. 1.
—Stirtz also had a game-high five assists, while making three of four shots beyond the three-point arc.
—It marked the sixth time Stirtz has collected three or more three-point baskets in a game this season, including the 12th time in his career.
—Junior swingman Tavion Banks came off the bench scoring a career-high 21 points, including 15 in the second half.
—Banks grabbed a team-high five rebounds along with a career-high four steals.
—Graduate forward Daniel Abreu added 12 points along with a game-high two blocked shots.
—Freshman Isaia Howard also recorded a career-high four steals off the bench.
—Graduate guard Mitch Mascari made two three-point baskets, moving into a tie for No. 17 on the Drake single-season three-point basket made list at 69 with Klayton Korver (2007-08)
 
The Series
—Drake beat Southern Illinois for the 11th time in the last 12 meetings including the last six games.
—The Bulldogs have won their last two trips to Carbondale.
—Southern Illinois leads the series, 61-45 including a 35-15 record in games played in Carbondale.