No. 20 Drake Wins Missouri Valley Title

Emmenecker gets MVP honors as Bulldogs head to the Big Dance
By Mike Buss,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 9, 2008 6:15 PM CDT
No. 20 Drake Wins Missouri Valley Title
Members of the Drake basketball team celebrate after beating Illinois State for the Missouri Valley conference tournament championship on Sunday, March 9, 2008 in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)   (Associated Press)

Drake clinched its first NCAA tournament berth since 1971 with a 79-49 win over Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Championship game. Former walk-on Adam Emmenecker padded his conference player of the year status with 16 points and six assists to garner tournament MVP honors as well. The No. 20 Bulldogs shot 56% while improving to 28-4, writes the AP.

A 22-2 run to close out the first half sealed the deal for Drake, as Illinois State was unable to muster any sort of second-half comeback. Jonathan Cox added 20 points, as the Bulldogs completed a sweep of the MVC regular season and tourney titles. As for making the Big Dance, Emmenecker said, "this is the big deal." (More basketball stories.)

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