Drake notches 20th win

Posted February 02, 2008 10:00 pm

Associated Press

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Adam Emmenecker saw an opportunity to step out of his established role as a playmaker, and he took it.

Emmenecker scored a career-high 20 points, and No. 16 Drake defeated Indiana State 83-77 for its 20th win.

Emmenecker leads the Missouri Valley Conference in assists, but averages just 7 points per game. He shot just 5 of 13, but made 10 of 11 free throws. He didn't completely change his style -- he still had 8 assists -- but he was much more focused on attacking the basket than usual.

"It's whatever the game dictates," Emmenecker said. "They were switching big guys onto me, so that kind of opened up the lane a little bit for me to try to get to the basket."

In this case, Emmenecker's teammates made him better. Drake made 10 of 22 3-pointers, and the threat they posed opened up opportunities for him.

"We have so many great shooters on the perimeter that when other teams try to take them away, it opens up the middle of the lane a little bit," he said. "I try to keep my teammates involved, but I know I have to take the shots when they're there."

Josh Young scored 18 points and Leonard Houston added 16 for the Bulldogs (20-1, 11-0 Missouri Valley), who won their 19th straight.

Emmenecker was happy the Bulldogs claimed their 20th win.

"It's nice to get to that total, but we know we've got a long way to go, still," he said. "There's a lot of season left, and we know we're going to have a lot of tough teams. Every team in our conference is so good that we can't not be focused every night."

Gabe Moore led Indiana State (10-11, 5-6) with 19 points.

Drake made seven of 11 3-pointers in the second half and shot 56 percent from the field after halftime.

Indiana State beat traditional conference powers Southern Illinois and Creighton on its home court earlier this season, and the Sycamores looked like they might add Drake to the list. Indiana State shot 65 percent from the field in the first half to take a 35-30 lead.

But back-to-back 3-pointers by Jonathan Cox and Bill Eaddy gave Drake a 59-50 lead with just under nine minutes to go, and the Bulldogs stayed in control the rest of the way.