ST. LOUIS — Guard Bennett Stirtz, the MVC Player of the Year, scored 24 points, including 16 in the second half, to rally top-seeded Drake to a 57-50 victory past No. 4 seed Belmont in the semifinal round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the Enterprise Center Saturday.
Drake, winning its sixth straight game, improved to 29-3 overall – the most victories in the NCAA this season as well as the most in school history. The Bulldogs won their eighth straight MVC Tournament game dating back to 2023 while advancing to the championship for sixth time in school history, including the fifth straight year.
Drake joined Tulsa (1982-87) as the only teams to advance to the championship game of the MVC Tournament five straight years.
Drake’s Ben McCollum becomes the 12th coach to advance his team to the MVC Tournament in his first season with an MVC team and the first since Drew Valentine led Loyola to the 2022 title. McCollum also became the winningest first-year coach in Drake history with 29 victories, surpassing Keno Davis, who went 28-5 in his first year at Drake in 2007-08.
The Bulldogs overcame their worst shooting performance of the season —38.6 percent — relying on a stingy defense to rally from a 30-21 halftime deficit.
Cam Manyawu’s rebound basket with 1:42 left broke a 50-50 tie and Drake secured the victory by making five free throws down the stretch while Belmont went scoreless for the last 2:11 of the game.
Stirtz opened the second half scoring the first eight points of the half to pull the Bulldogs within 30-29 with 17:24 left. Drake took its first lead of the game at 40-39 following two free throws by freshman Isaia Howard. Drake used another 8-0 run, aided by four Belmont turnovers, to push ahead 44-39 with 8:23 remaining. After leading at the half, Belmont was limited to 20 second-half points and made just .267 of their shots (8-of-27) . Belmont also struggled from long range in the second half, making just 2-of-12 attempts (.167).
Belmont, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, slipped to 22-11. Belmont was making its first appearance in the MVC Tournament semifinal round.
Belmont freshman forward Sam Orme had a team-high 13 points. Junior guard Tyler Lundblade had nine points — all on three three-point baskets – to become Belmont’s single-season leader in three-pointers at 104. Graduate guard Carter Whitt contributed eighth points and a game-high six assists
Three of Belmont’s first four baskets were three-pointers, staking the Bruins to a 12-7 lead en route to mounting a 26-14 lead after a three-point basket by Jonathan Pierre. The 26-14 lead by Belmont matched Drake’s largest deficit of the season in a home loss to Murray State Jan. 5. Belmont closed out the half making seven of its last 11 shots (63.6 percent shooting), while Drake had three turnovers in its last five possessions.
Drake had 11 steals for the second-straight MVC Tournament game while also marking the 16th game the Bulldogs have had 10-plus steals.
Stirtz moved into No. 7 on Drake’s single-season scoring list (607 total points), just the fifth Bulldog to reach the 600-oint plateau in a season. He added a game-high four steals (seventh time this season with four-plus thefts) to move into a tie for third on the Drake single-season record books at 70, tying Lonnie Randolph (2003-04). Freshman forward Isaia Howard, one day after recording a career-high 21 points, scored nine points. Manyawu had a game-high seven rebounds.
