In Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball on Friday, four wins highlighted the first day of the 2007-08 season as Drake beat San Diego, 81-63; Indiana State outdistanced Oakland City, 78-45; UNI slammed Northern Illinois, 75-45; and Creighton rallied after a slow start to beat visiting DePaul, 74-62.

Drake 81, San Diego 63
Senior guard Leonard Houston scored a career-high 21 points to pace a balanced attack as the Drake earned a 81-63  victory past UC San Diego Friday to mark the successful head coaching debut of Keno Davis. It marked the seventh straight year the Bulldogs had won their season opener.

The Bulldogs had five players score in double figures with 6-foot 8-inch junior forward Jonathan Cox coming off the bench to collect a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  Houston matched his career high with 12 points in the first half, while Cox tallied nine points as Drake enjoyed a 40-28 halftime lead.

Drake shot 52.9 percent from the floor, hitting 27 of 51 shots. The Bulldog pressure defense also caused havoc by forcing UC San Diego into 25 turnovers. Drake scored 25 points off those miscues.  The Bulldogs collected 15 steals with senior guard Adam Emmenecker tying a career high with five steals. Houston and sophomore guard Josh Young had three steals apiece.

Consecutive three-point baskets by Houston powered the Bulldogs to their biggest lead of the first half at 33-19 with 4:24 left.  Young finished with 13 points, while junior forwards Brent Heemskerk and Alex White each scored 11. White also grabbed seven rebounds for Drake which outrebounded UC San Diego, 34-26.

Midway through the second half junior reserve guard Jacob Baryenbruch hit two straight three-point baskets to trigger an 8-0 run allowing Drake to enjoy its first 18-point lead at 67-49 following a three-point basket at the top of the key by Cox.  The Bulldogs will face host Saint Mary's at 9:35 p.m. Central Time Saturday night.  The Gaels, were picked to finish second in the West Coast Conference preseason coaches poll behind national power Gonzaga.


Indiana State 78, Oakland City 45
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Kevin McKenna era in Indiana State basketball got off to a strong start on Friday night, as the Sycamores cruised to a 78-45 win over Division II Oakland City.  ISU (1-0) led by as much as 37 points at one point over OCU (0-1) to earn its first win of the season in front of 3,713 fans at the Hulman Center.

ISU got out to a quick start, as back-to-back threes from freshman Aaron Carter put the Sycamores up 9-0 early in the first half.  Oakland City’s Mervyn Clark quickly cut into lead, scoring two buckets to make the score 9-4.  The lead would eventually grow to double digits when sophomore Marico Stinson connected from 3-point range to bring the score to 22-12 with 8:05 left on the clock.  The lead would never drop below ten points for the rest of the half and Stinson’s jumper with 52 seconds left on the clock widened the lead to 38-20, which is where the score stayed as the teams headed to the locker rooms at halftime.

The start of the second half saw Indiana State jump out to a 23-point lead at 53-30 after freshman Lamar Lee connected from beyond the arch.  Oakland City fought to get back in the game, as Darius Clark stole the ball from Marshall at half court and took it down the floor for the wide open layup to cut the lead to 53-33 with 11:16 left in the game.  However, that would be as close as the Mighty Oaks would get as the Sycamores went on a 16-0 run, capped off by Stinson’s third three of the game to blow, the game open at 70-33 with 6:48 left on the clock.  Oakland City outscored Indiana State 12-8 over the last six minutes, but the Sycamores were too tough throughout the night and secured the 78-45 victory.

Indiana State was strong on both ends of the floor, as the offense shot 46.2 percent from the field on the night, including 60 percent from beyond the arch in the second half.  The Sycamores also forced 22 turnovers from the Mighty Oaks on the defensive end, which led to 35 of the team’s 78 points.

Stinson led the way for ISU in the victory with 15 points, nine of which came from 3-point range, and six assists.  Cole Holmstrom and Jay Tunnel also scored in double figures for the Sycamores, with 12 and 10 points respectively.  Cox was the only player in double figures for the Mighty Oaks with 11 points.

Creighton 74, DePaul 62
True freshman P'Allen Stinnett had all 23 of his points in the second half as Creighton rallied from an early 17-point deficit to down DePaul, 74-62, before 16,104 enthusiastic fans at Qwest Center Omaha on Friday night.  The Bluejays (1-0) fell behind by 17 points on a pair of occasions (23-6 and 25-8) before putting together the second-biggest comeback in Qwest Center Omaha history.

A 13-0 run by Creighton's big men helped trim DePaul's early lead to just four just four minutes later. Dane Watts hit two free throws to start the burst, Kenny Lawson Jr. had a three-point play, and Louisville transfer Chad Millard added eight points in a 34-second span as the Jays made a game of it.  CU tied the game at 32-all with 1:44 left in the first half, only to see the visiting Blue Demons score the final six points of the first half to take a 38-32 lead into the locker room.

CU scored the first seven points of the second half, getting the first five from Millard before a driving lay-in by Stinnett gave the Bluejays their first lead at 39-38 and 18:09 to play. Creighton took the lead for good on a Stinnett three-ball with 12:03 to go.  He drained another trey after the media timeout to give CU a 52-46 lead, and later banked in a three-pointer with 2:48 to go to give CU a 70-58 lead.

Stinnett's 23-points were the most by a Bluejay making their debut since at least 1986, when Matt Roggenburk poured in 19 during his first game.  Millard had 15 points, four assists and five rebounds while Watts had 10 points and nine rebounds to open his senior season. Watts scored eight of CU¹s first 10 points as a young Bluejay team struggled to handle their emotions in front of the seventh-largest crowd in state history.

Creighton is now 76-14 all-time in season-openers, including 11 straight wins.  The Bluejays are 13-1 under Dana Altman in season-openers.  Creighton's 17-point rally was its second-largest deficit ever faced at Qwest Center Omaha. The Jays trailed Wichita State by 19 on Jan. 28, 2006 but won that game 57-55 on a buzzer-beater from Anthony Tolliver.  Creighton¹s only newcomers in the last 20 years to lead the team in scoring during their first game at CU have been Johnny Mathies (2003) and P'Allen Stinnett.

Northern Iowa 75, Northern Illinois 45
Sophomore center Jordan Eglseder scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team to a 75-45 win over Northern Illinois Friday night in the BTI Tip-Off Tournament hosted by the Panthers at the McLeod Center.
 
Eglseder posted his first career double-double in his first career start.  The 7-1 native of Bellevue, Iowa, added two assists and also blocked three shots in 25 minutes of action.  He was joined in double figures by junior guard Travis Brown who scored 14 points, and senior guard Jared Josten who added 11.  Both Brown and Josten each made three three-pointers, as UNI connected on 10-of-21 shots from downtown on the evening.  UNI also held a commanding 48-30 advantage in rebounding.
 
Northern Illinois got off to an 8-5 lead after the opening five minutes of play, before UNI got going.  An Eric Coleman layup started a 30-4 run over the next 10 minutes, as the Panthers opened a 35-12 advantage.  Coleman, Josten and Eglseder had six points apiece during that run, and freshman Jon Montgomery added five.  UNI, which shot 55 percent from the field in the opening half (including 5-of-8 from downtown), held a 40-18 lead at intermission.  Northern Illinois connected on just 31 percent of its shots in the first half and was 0-for-6 on three-pointers.
 
UNI’s lead never got below 20 points in the second half, and extended its advantage to as many as 36 (63-37) late in the game.
 
Panthers’ sophomore forward Adam Koch had six assists and 13 rebounds, while Montgomery chipped in with nine.  Coleman scored seven points, grabbed five rebounds and had two blocks in just 15 minutes of action.  A total of 12 UNI players saw action, with nine of them scoring.
 
UNI is now 1-0 on the season while Northern Illinois is 0-1.  The BTI Tip-Off Tournament continues tomorrow at the McLeod Center, with UMass facing Northern Illinois at 5:45, and UNI meeting Cal Poly at 8:15.  Earlier today, UMass defeated Cal Poly 90-64.