ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

If top-seeded Drake is going to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, it will be because the Bulldogs took care of the little things.

The Bulldogs, led by detail-oriented first-year coach Ben McCollum and his band of Division II transfers, did just that in their tournament opener on Friday, ousting No. 8 seed Southern Illinois 70-53 in a quarterfinal game at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

The Bulldogs forced 15 turnovers and got some much-needed bench production in a rare blowout win. Drake (28-3) advances to Saturday’s semifinals and will face Belmont or Illinois State.

Bulldogs freshman Isaia Howard, who has continued to emerge as a scoring threat recently, led Drake with a career-best 21 off the bench along with six steals, also a career high. Howard reached double figures in only two previous games this season and scored two or fewer points in more than half of the 25 games he played entering Friday.

“I saw it in high school when I recruited him to Northwest and he chose not to come," McCollum said, turning to look at Howard, who chuckled. "We knew that he had a level of energy and juice to him."

McCollum called Howard "a little bit like me in a lot of ways, kind of half nuts in a good way."

Point guard Bennett Stirtz, Drake’s cerebral leader and the MVC’s player of the year, scored 15 and tallied five assists. The nation’s leader in percentage of his team’s minutes played (98.7%), Stirtz sat for just 1:22 on Friday.

“I mean, Bennett didn't play hardly at all,� McCollum said. “He only played 38 minutes and 38 seconds, so he got a big time rest. He should be completely fresh.�

Stirtz and teammate Mitch Mascari are one-two in percentage of minutes played nationally. McCollum, who won four Division II national titles, isn't changing his approach. Mascari played just 10 fewer seconds than Stirtz.

"Our big thing is one day, one game, that's all you have," McCollum said. "You gotta play one game, and then once you get past one game, then you get another game."

Four of Drake’s five starters came over with McCollum when he was hired from Northwest Missouri State last spring to lead his home-state Bulldogs, who led for all but the opening minutes Friday.

But the move to the bigger stages and stakes in Division I doesn’t seem to be affecting these Bulldogs, an entirely new team from last year's Arch Madness champions.

McCollum called the MVC tournament “very similar� to his conference tournament experiences at Northwest, while Stirtz said he was “kind of used to it� from his days there.

The Bulldogs, thanks to offensive rebounding and forcing Saluki turnovers, took 11 more shots in the first half than Southern Illinois en route to building an 11-point halftime lead.

Drake ranks among the nation’s best in forcing turnovers on a percentage basis.

“It was the offensive rebounds and the turnovers that beat us,� SIU coach Scott Nagy said. “And a lot of that just had to do with their physicality.�

The Bulldogs, the nation’s slowest-paced team, after taking that halftime lead, methodically strangled the Salukis.

The 17-point victory matches the Bulldogs’ biggest winning margin since Jan. 20. Just one of Drake’s previous six wins entering Friday came by double digits.

Drake is seeking its third straight Arch Madness title and would be the first team to do so since Southern Illinois in the mid 1990s.

The Salukis were led by Ali Dibba with 19 points. Kennard Davis Jr. (Vashon) had 10 points and four rebounds.

Southern Illinois, in Nagy’s first season, finishes 14-19. SIU was without starting point guard Damien Mayo Jr. (Chaminade), who was injured in the Salukis’ opening-round win.

It marked a disappointing end to an up-and-down season for the Salukis. Nagy mentioned the need for more post production and ball-handling next season. The Salukis lost their leading scorer and point guard to a season-ending injury in November.

But Nagy expects to raise the bar in Carbondale.

"For me to be in a place where the fans are almost too encouraging, I want them to expect more from us,â€� Nagy said. “ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ will. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ will. I like being at a place where basketball is very important.â€�