Drake-Indiana St. Preview

2/1/2008 2:44 PM

By MATT BECKER
STATS Writer

In the midst of the school's longest winning streak, Drake is playing with poise and confidence, and putting all those years of coming up on the losing end of close games far behind.

The 16th-ranked Bulldogs look to continue their astonishing run in the Missouri Valley Conference and reach 20 wins for the first time in 37 years as they visit Indiana State on Saturday.

Drake (19-1, 10-0 MVC) is coming off a 75-65 victory over Creighton on Wednesday to extend its school-record winning streak to 18 games. The Bulldogs, who swept the season series over the Bluejays for the first time since 1994-95, have the nation's second-longest winning streak behind top-ranked Memphis (20-0).

Drake improved to 10-0 in the Valley for the first time in school history, and is one victory shy of its first 20-win season since the 1970-71 team went 21-8 and was the school's last NCAA tournament team.

The Bulldogs also have a three-game lead over second-place Illinois State in the MVC, but it hasn't been easy.

On Wednesday, Creighton's P'Allen Stinnett had a chance to pull the Bluejays within one score with 40 seconds left, but as he drove to the basket his shot got stuck between the rim and the glass. Drake owned the possession arrow, and held on to score the final 10 points of the game.

"We've got to continue to play up to this level, and we're going to have chances to win games at the end,'' first-year coach Keno Davis said. "Hopefully, we stay healthy and keep focusing on what got us here.''

Drake ended last Saturday's 58-54 win over Northern Iowa on a 9-1 run, and each of the Bulldogs' last six games have been decided in the final minutes.

"When it gets down really close, this team has the confidence to pull a game like this off,'' Drake's Adam Emmenecker said. "It doesn't matter who it is, we just know that one of our players will step up and make the play.''

While the Bulldogs have been winning close games lately, they had little trouble against the Sycamores earlier this season. Drake defeated Indiana State 75-50 on Jan. 9, holding the Sycamores to an opponent season-low 29.1 percent shooting.

The Bulldogs lead the Valley in scoring (73.3 points per game) and are second in scoring defense (58.5 ppg).

Sophomore Josh Young leads the MVC in scoring at 15.9 points, while teammate Leonard Houston is third at 14.3 points.

Young tied a career high with 24 points on Wednesday, going 8-of-11 from the floor - 6-of-8 from 3-point range.

Jonathan Cox, a former walk-on, added 16 points and 10 rebounds against Creighton for his eighth double-double of the season.

Cox had 18 points and 14 boards against the Sycamores in January, while Houston finished with 15 points in that contest.

In Drake's last trip to Indiana State on Dec. 30, 2006, the Bulldogs lost 84-73.

The Sycamores (10-10, 5-5) have won all 10 of their home games, winning their four conference games at the Hulman Center by an average of 14.5 points. Indiana State, which is tied for fourth place in the MVC with Creighton, Northern Iowa and Bradley, has not opened conference play with five straight home wins since 2000-01.

The Sycamores lost to the Braves 63-44 on Wednesday, their fourth loss in five games.

Marico Stinson, who is averaging a team-high 13.0 points, had 10 points and seven rebounds against Bradley. Stinson had 15 points against the Bulldogs earlier this season, and had a career-high 37 in last season's win over them.