Drake men’s basketball beats Valparaiso in Missouri Valley Conference opener

Bennett Stirtz scored a career-high 29 points Thursday in Drake men’s basketball’s 66-60 victory at Valparaiso, the Bulldogs’ Missouri Valley Conference opener.

Drake’s defense held Valparaiso without a basket for the final 3:41 of the game.

“It’s hard to win on the road,” Drake coach Ben McCollum said. “We have just really struggled to put teams away and I think it’s just from a scoring perspective. We need to be a little more dynamic offensively. The teams that we have played have been so good and now we have been scouted a lot. We’re going to get there and from my understanding (Valparaiso) has always been a notorious tough place to play. It was tough tonight, but they did a good job.”

Tavion Banks came off the bench and tied a career high with 12 points, including eight in the first half. Cam Manyawu grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds — his third double-figure rebound game of the season

Drake improved to 8-0, just the third time a Bulldogs team has won its first eight games to open the season (1970-71 and 2020-21).

The Drake sports information department contributed this report.