DES MOINES, Iowa – Drake's once comfortable lead evaporated down the stretch and its men's basketball game with Indiana State turned into a nail-biter before the Bulldogs pulled out an 85-81 victory in overtime at the Knapp Center on Saturday evening.
 
Tavion Banks came up big in the extra session with seven points, including a key three-point play off a putback to give his team some breathing room, and Drake (22-2, 12-2 Missouri Valley Conference) held on for its 10th straight victory.
 
The Bulldogs became the first team in the country to win 22 games. Their .916 winning percentage is the nation's best. But getting there was not easy.
 
With Drake leading 49-33 early in the second half, Indiana State (12-13, 6-8) began breaking down the Bulldogs' defense for layups and dunks, chopped away at the deficit and tied it at 72 when K'mani Doughty buried a three from deep in the right corner with 1:04 left.
 
The Sycamores then rebounded a Drake miss, but Mitch Mascari got the ball back for the Bulldogs with a steal. After a Drake timeout, Bennett Stirtz, who led the Bulldogs with 20 points, missed a 3-point shot just before the buzzer and Drake went into overtime for the third time this season.
 
And for the third time, the Bulldogs prevailed in the extra five minutes.
 
Stirtz made a layup on a feed from Mascari, then got the ball to Banks, who soared in for a layup that put Drake up 76-72. Indiana State quickly tied it, but Stirtz answered with two free throws and the Bulldogs led the rest of the way.
 
An offensive foul sent the ball back to Drake and when Stirtz missed a jumper from the left side, Banks slipped in for the rebound, made the shot and was fouled. He sank the free throw, stretching the lead to 81-76, and Isaiah Jackson's free throw made it a six-point game.
 
Back came the Sycamores again, drawing to 83-81 when Doughty drove for a layup with 13.5 seconds to go. Indiana State had to foul, Banks dropped in two free throws for the final points and the Sycamores missed two shots at the end, sending a sigh of relief through the Drake fans in the crowd of 4,394.
 
Stirtz added seven assists and four rebounds to his line while playing all 45 minutes. The seven assists moved him from ninth to sixth on the school's single-season list, hiking his total to 149.
 
Daniel Abreu added 18 points for the Bulldogs on 6-for-9 shooting and led the team with eight rebounds. Jackson scored 13 points, matching his total from the previous five games, and Banks finished with 11. Mascari had seven points and five assists, plus that key steal to prevent the Sycamores from getting the final shot of regulation.
 
Drake outrebounded Indiana State 35-26, had assists on 20 of its 28 field goals and shot 51 percent, the seventh time in the last eight games the Bulldogs have made at least half their shots.
 
Indiana State guard Samage Teel gave Drake fits throughout the game and finished with 26 points on 9-for-13 shooting. The Sycamores also shot 51 percent and were money at the free throw line, making 19 of 23. They made eight straight shots and nine of 10 during one stretch in the second half when they were cutting into Drake's lead.
 
Jackson, whose role has been ball handling and defense, propelled Drake to a fast start with six early points as the Bulldogs jumped to a 12-2 lead and never trailed at any point in the game.
 
Mascari's rainbow 3 sandwiched between two Cam Manyawu layups stretched the lead to 23-10 and Drake kept the margin in that range for the rest of the half. The Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the opening half, 41-26, on one of the game's slickest plays, Stirtz passing to Isaia Howard who quickly hit Nate Ferguson for a dunk.
 
Camp Wagner's three for Indiana State left Drake up 41-29 at the half, the fifth time this season the Bulldogs had scored at least 40 points in the opening half. When Howard knocked down a 3-pointer for his only basket of the game, Drake led 49-33 with 15:02 left.
 
Indiana State then ran off seven straight points to stem Drake's momentum and stayed on the Bulldogs' heels the rest of the way.
 
"I didn't think we came out with an elite level of energy defensively, in particular, to impose our will," Drake head coach Ben McCollum said. "I thought offensively we executed, so we were able to build a sizeable lead and couldn't just quite get us going defensively from an effort and even an execution standpoint, which is rare. I think the really good part about it, though, is sometimes you're able to learn from wins as long as you don't let the win become a distraction. That's what we told our guys, and I heard it from the Celtics coach, so I have to give him credit.
 
"Making sure that we learn from this and know that, one, we did learn how to flip the switch," McCollum continued. "We weren't ready and then with about five, six minutes to go we flipped the switch and we turned it, which is hard to do."
 
Drake, which beat Indiana State 71-53 in Terre Haute last month, heads to Illinois State for its next game, Wednesday at 8 p.m.  The Bulldogs will be seeking a season sweep of the Redbird after winning 66-62 in the Knapp Center on Jan. 15.
 
TEAM NOTES
—Drake captured its 10th straight victory, while tying for the second-best start in school history with its 22-2 record (matching the 22-2 start by the 2020-21 squad) and only trailing a 24-1 start by the 2007-08 team.
—Drake's winning percentage (.916) is the best in the nation and Drake's 22 victories are the most by a NCAA Division I team this season.
—This marked the ninth time Drake has won 22 or more games in a season, including the last five straight seasons dating back to the 2020-21 campaign.
—Drake improved to 12-2 in the MVC, maintaining first place in the league.
—This marked the fifth straight season Drake has won 12-plus league games in the Missouri Valley Conference and ninth time in school history.
—This marked the 14th time in Ben McCollum's coaching career that he has had a winning streak of 10 games or more: Drake-twice, NW Missouri State-12 times
—McCollum improved his career coaching record to 416-93 with his winning percentage of .817 ranking fifth on the all-time career NCAA head coach winning percentage.
—Drake is 12-1 at home this season, including a 6-1 league home mark.
—Drake moved to 3-0 in overtime games: Kansas State 73-70; Missouri State 69-62; Indiana State 85-81
—The Bulldogs shot 50.9 percent (28-55) from the floor, marking the 12th time Drake has shot 50 percent or better this season, including the seventh time in their last eight MVC games.
—Drake outrebounded Indiana State, 35-25, improving to 19-1 when out rebounding opponents.
—Drake collected 20 assists - the most against an MVC opponent this season. It marked the third time Drake has recorded 20-plus assists in a contest this season trailing only the season high of 22 against both York and St. Ambrose.
—Drake improved to 19-1 when owning a halftime lead after owning a 41-29 intermission lead tonight.
—Drake hit 53.6 percent of its shots (15-28) in the first half, marking the 14th game this season the Bulldogs shot 50 percent or better in the first half. 
—It marked the fifth time — all at home — Drake has scored 40-plus points in the first half
—It marked the eighth time the Bulldogs have owned a double-digit halftime lead, including the sixth time against an MVC opponent
—Drake never trailed, enjoying a 4-0 lead to open the game and never looked back.
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
—Tavion Banks (7) and Bennett Stirtz (4) combined for 11 of Drake's 13 points in overtime.
—Junior guard Bennett Stirtz enjoyed his 12th 20-plus scoring game of the season, including the 24th time in his career after scoring a team-high 20 points including 13 points after halftime.
—Stirtz also had a game-high seven assists, while moving into No. 6 on Drake's single-season assists list at 149, passing Al Stewart (144 2005-06), Stephfon Butler (147, 1984-85) and Lamont Evans (148, 1999-2000).
—Graduate forward Daniel Abreu added 18 points, including 10 in the first half.
—Abreu grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
—Abreu made three three-point baskets, marking the eighth time this season he has made three-plus treys in a game.
—Isaiah Jackson scored 13 points, including nine in the first half. Jackson's total surpassed his entire combined output of nine points in his previous four games.
—It marked the second time Jackson has scored in double figures this season.
—Junior Tavion Banks came off the bench scoring 11 points, including seven points in overtime.
—Graduate Mitch Mascari made one three-point basket, moving into a tie for No. 15 on the single-season three-point basket made list at 71 with Ryan Wedel (2010-11) and B.J. Windhorst (1995-96).
 
THE SERIES
—Drake, winning its third straight game against the Sycamores, improved its lead in the all-time series against Indiana State to 53-49 including a 34-13 mark in games played in Des Moines.
—The Bulldogs have won their last eight straight games against Indiana State which have been played in Des Moines dating back to 2017.