Drake opened the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a convincing win. Freshman Isaia Howard had a game high 21 points as the top seeded Bulldogs beat Southern Illinois 70-53 in St. Louis. The Bulldogs improve to 28-3 and will play in tomorrow’s semifinal round.

Drake got 31 points from its bench.

That’s Drake coach Ben McCollum. The Bulldogs also had 14 offensive rebounds.