Check another accomplishment off the list for the ever-improving and now-surging Valparaiso University men's basketball team.
 
The Beacons used a true team effort to knock off Drake 81-76 on Monday night in Des Moines, Iowa, securing the program's first road win over the Bulldogs since 2018.
 
Valpo, which has now won back-to-back games and three of its last four, received 23 points from freshman JT Pettigrew (Lisle, Ill. / Bolingbrook) and 20 from fellow rookie Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Rockford Auburn [212 Sports Academy]). Another freshman made the biggest plays down the stretch, as the defense and rebounding of Sader Servilus (Montreal, Quebec, Canada / Fort Erie International Academy) helped put the Beacons over the top, as he shut down the league's leading scorer over the final few minutes. Four freshmen were on the court for the Beacons down the stretch, and veteran Brody Whitaker (Greencastle, Ind. / Greencastle [University of Indianapolis / Marian]) made big plays late as well.
 
How It Happened

• It was raining 3s early from Valpo freshman Chaney as he dialed it up from distance and swished it through on three straight possessions, creating a single-handed 9-0 run that put the Beacons ahead 13-5 and forced a Drake timeout with 16:06 left in the opening half.
• Drake fought back to within four at 18-14 at the under -12 media timeout despite a possession where the Beacons racked up four fouls on Drake before finishing on a dunk by Carter Hopoi (Tauranga, New Zealand [Mount Maunganui College NZ]).
• Pettigrew heated up by accounting for three straight Beacon baskets.
• Drake's Jalen Quinn continued to fill it up early. His basket tied the game at 24 with 7:41 on the first-half clock, with Quinn accounting for 12 of the 24. He eventually finished the game with 33 points.
• Drake made seven of nine field-goal attempts during a stretch where Quinn continued to score at a high clip, but the Beacons kept it close, down just three at 35-32 at the under-4 media timeout.
• Chaney made his fourth bucket of the first half with 34 seconds left until halftime, helping Valpo get within two at the break at 40-38. Offensive rebounds helped the Drake cause in the first half as they had seven offensive boards despite missing only 14 shots. Both teams shot at least 50 percent in the first half.
• A step-back 3 by Owen Dease (Evansville, Ind. / Evansville Reitz [Texas A&M Corpus Christi]) tied the game early in the second half, and then an impressive traditional 3-point play by Pettigrew put Valpo ahead 48-45. The two teams were level at 50 with 15:27 on the clock.
• Valpo experienced a cold stretch, missing six out of seven shots, and Drake scored 10 of the next 13 points to build up a 60-53 lead with 11:54 remaining in regulation. A Chaney 3 accounted for the Beacon bucket during that stretch, his fourth triple.
• Chaney hit his fifth three of the game just before the 10-minute mark of the half, shrinking the Drake lead to three at 60-57.
• Pettigrew collected an errant pass and pulled off another impressive finish despite being fouled, pulling Valpo within two at 64-62 with 7:55 to play.
• Pettigrew had another finish despite being fouled that put Valpo up 67-66 with 6:48 to play. Drake regained the lead and built it to four, but Whitaker drained two free throws to make it a two-point game with four minutes to go.
• Whitaker hit a big jumper to tie the game at 72 with 3:30 on the clock, then another one that leveled the score at 74 with 2:20 left. The veteran poise continued to play a big role when he made two free throws to once again tie it with 1:48 left.
• Pettigrew hit a go-ahead 3 with 1:08 left that made it 79-76. Valpo finished the game on a 7-0 run including two game-clinching free throws by Servilus with 11 seconds left after he had secured a monster defensive rebound on the other end.  Servilus' defense on Quinn in the final few minutes played a huge role in the outcome.

Inside the Game

• Valpo has surpassed last season's conference win total, making this the best season in league play under head coach Roger Powell Jr.
• The Beacons moved to within two wins of matching Valpo's highest league win total since joining the Missouri Valley Conference.
• The win on Monday snapped an eight-game head-to-head losing streak, as the Beacons beat the Bulldogs for the first time since 2021 and first time at Drake since 2018.
• Valpo owns a winning record through 25 games for the first time since 2018-2019 (also 13-12). 
• The Beacons own a .500 or better record through exactly 14 Missouri Valley Conference games for the first time since joining the league prior to the 2017-2018 campaign.
• Pettigrew's 23 points represented a career high, surpassing his previous best of 21 reached against UIC (Jan. 4) and Illinois State (Jan. 7). His 12 rebounds tied a personal best set on Jan. 13 at Belmont.
• Pettigrew's double-double was his team-leading fourth of the season. He was 8-of-11 from the floor with seven of the eight makes coming inside the arc. He added two blocks to his impressive stat line.
• Chaney finished with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, his highest scoring output in league play and highest since scoring 23 on Jan. 19 at Cleveland State. He drained a career-high five 3s. Chaney's six rebounds marked his highest total in league play.
• After missing the previous game due to an injury, Whitaker tallied 13 points, his second-highest total in league play.
• Servilus squeezed a career-high seven rebounds in just nine minutes of action.
• Dease made it four Beacons in double figures with 10 points, his fifth straight game in double figures.
• The Beacons outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-34 and shot at a 50 percent clip from the floor and 40.9 percent from 3. Drake was held to 25.9 percent from beyond the arc.

Up Next
Valpo (13-12, 7-7 MVC) will finish out a stretch of playing four out of five on the road by visiting Illinois State for a 6 p.m. tip on Thursday. The game will be televised regionally on the MVC TV Network through Gray Media.