Friday, December 12, 2008

Today In The Valley (Dec. 12)

Drake (7-2) vs. Georgia Southern (3-3)
7:00 pm.
Knapp Center; Des Moines, Iowa

Another weekend, another tournament played in or hosted by the Bulldogs. This time it is the Drake Hy-Vee Classic, which pits the host school against the Georgia Southern Eagles in the second of two opening round matchups.

The last time we saw Drake, Tuesday night on ESPNU, they stormed back from a double-digit deficit to gain a hard-fought road win against in-state rival Iowa State. Josh Young (19 points) and three other Bulldogs scored in double figures against the Cyclones. Included in Drake’s offensive leaders was transfer Adam Templeton, who scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his most productive game in a Drake uniform. Jonathon Cox also exuded great effort in Ames, logging a 14-point, 14-rebound night (his second 14-rebound game of the season).

The Eagles are led by slick sophomore Willie Powers (13 ppg) and senior Julian Allen (12 ppg). And junior forward Tyler Troupe will be coming back to the state where he played junior college ball (Iowa Western Community College).

The winner of this game will square off tomorrow night against the winner of tonight’s Stephen F. Austin-North Dakota State game.

~ Creighton Otter

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Wichita State (3-5) vs. Gardner-Webb (2-5)
7:00 p.m.
Koch Arena; Wichita, Kansas

The Shockers come back home to Koch Arena reeling a bit. Half of their games (and 4 of their losses) have come against teams in the RPI Top 50. Their last loss, 57-48 earlier this week at TCU, showed just how far WSU has to go in terms of offensive execution. That is not a problem shared by their opponents tonight, the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs from little Boiling Springs, North Carolina, beat Kentucky early last season. In that game, then-sophomore Grayson Flittner scored 20 points. This season, the junior is averaging 17 points and 4 assists per game, including scoring outputs of 19 against Oklahoma and 21 against Virginia Tech. The Bulldogs dropped those games against BCS-conference teams by 4 points and 3 points, respectively.

The Shox counter with a point guard of their own, junior college transfer Clevin Hannah (12 points, 4 assists per game).

~ Creighton Otter

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