Howard scores 21 off the bench, Drake defeats Southern Illinois 70-53 in MVC Tournament

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Isaia Howard helped lead top-seeded Drake over eighth-seeded Southern Illinois on Friday with a career-high 21 points off of the bench in a 70-53 victory in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

The Bulldogs advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday to play the winner of Illinois State-Belmont on Saturday.

Howard added six steals for the Bulldogs (28-3). Bennett Stirtz scored 15 points while shooting 5 for 12 (1 for 6 from 3-point range) and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line and added five rebounds and five assists. Cam Manyawu had 11 points and shot 4 of 5 from the field and 3 of 5 from the free-throw line.

Ali Abdou Dibba led the way for the Salukis (14-19) with 19 points. Drew Steffe added 11 points for Southern Illinois. Kennard Davis had 10 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.