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White, Indiana overcome slow start to top Coppin State

Dec 23, 2007 - 3:07 AM BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (Ticker) -- Coppin State may have been tired, but it was Indiana that needed the wake-up call.

D.J. White scored 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds as 14th-ranked Indiana overcame a lackluster first half and rolled to a 73-46 victory over Coppin State on Saturday.

The noon start was expected to put the Eagles (3-10) at a disadvantage after they lost to Marquette hours earlier on Friday night. Yet it was the Hoosiers (10-1) that had trouble early, shooting 36 percent in the first half and holding a narrow 28-26 lead at the break.

"I thought the second half was really good," Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said. "The first half, I think we were still recovering from that six-hour bus ride from Marquette. Oh wait, that was the other team. My bad."

The lopsided matchup many anticipated materialized in the second half. Indiana stormed out of the gate with an 20-4 run, ignited by freshman Eric Gordon's 3-pointer in the opening seconds.

Mike White added 10 points for the Hoosiers, who won their sixth consecutive game. Jordan Crawford and Lance Stemler contributed nine points each as Indiana made it 25 consecutive home wins.

"The first half was a lesson for us," Sampson said. "I'm not sure that, in some ways, it won't help us somewhere down the road."

Tywain McKee played all 40 minutes and scored 16 points to pace the Eagles, who lost their 28th consecutive road game to a Top 25 opponent - a streak that dates to the 1997-98 season.

After a sluggish opening 10 minutes of play, Indiana went on a 9-0 run to forge a 20-12 edge. DeAndre Thomas came off the bench to contribute four points of his seven points during the outburst.

The Eagles kept it close however, as McKee drained a pair of 3-pointers in the late going to cut the lead to two going into the break.

"Our guys understood what the situation was and they were willing to deal with it," Coppin State coach Ron Mitchell said. "I was very proud of them the first half but I've never been a coach who believed in moral victories. It said a lot because they fought the whole way, it just wasn't enough."

Gordon, who came in leading the Hoosiers with more than 24 points per game, had a rough first half, finishing 0-for-6 from the floor with just two points.

The freshman guard ended up just 2-of-13 from the floor, but finished with 15 points after going 10-for-10 from the free throw line. He was shooting just over 50 percent from 3-point range entering the game but was just 1-for-9 against the Eagles.

It is only the second time in 10 games that Gordon has been held under 20 points.

"There were a lot of positives in the second half," Sampson said. "The first half, there were a lot of lessons learned. You know we had seven practices this week, so we may have been more tired than Coppin."