CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Malcolm Hill made sure Illinois didnt step off the gas pedal Friday night so that the Illini could took care of business against Detroit Mercy, 89-69.The senior, who scored 25 points, led his team to a quick start after the intermission, when his team was up 39-30 and it seemed like the Titans would close the gap even more.Im always in an aggressive attack more, but this was one of those games where I needed to start strong in the second half, Hill said.Illinois (4-0) continued its strong start to the season in the opening game of the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament.The Illini had little trouble scoring, shooting 27of 52 from the field and 8 of 19 from 3-point range. Friday marked the second straight game the Illini had difficulty shooting from the free throw line however, finishing 27of 38.Tracy Abrams continued to have a strong return to basketball, scoring 15 points and finishing with four rebounds, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.Groce knows the importance a balanced offense can have on his team.If you can have a balance of paint touches with that outside shooting, it puts opponents in dilemmas, Groce said.Detroit Mercy (1-2) had trouble keeping up with Illinois fast offensive pace from the start of the game. The Titans never led.Josh McFolley and Jaleel Hogan both led the way with 16 points for a team that finished shooting 43 percent from the field and 24 percent from beyond the arc.The Titans fell behind in most categories against the Illini, but Detroit Mercy head coach Bacari Alexander felt Illinois won the game down in the post, where the Illini won the rebound battle 39-29.They took advantage of those opportunities (in the post), Alexander said. (But) I like the direction this team is going in.BIG PICTUREIllinois: The Illini have played as they should against the type of opponents theyve faced so far this year. The team has one game left against relatively easy competition before facing No. 19 West Virginia at the Barclays Center in New York.Detroit Mercy: Although the game was never really close after the first few minutes, the Titans found some scoring opportunities and will need to continue to do that in the rest of the tournament.ROLE PLAYERGroce thought bench player D.J. Williams had his best overall performance of the year. The sophomore wing scored six points.LETDOWNAfter a strong start to the season, center Maverick Morgan had his worst night of the season, finishing with six points and zero rebounds and fouling out with more than five minutes left in the game.UP NEXTIllinois will continue play in the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament when it hosts Winthrop in Champaign on Monday.Detroit Mercy will try to bounce back Monday when it travels to Florida State to play its second game in the NIT Season Tip-Off.---More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org Cheap Brian ONeill Jersey . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. Discount Vikings Jerseys . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. http://www.vikingsjerseyscheap.com/cheap-mike-hughes-jersey/ .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. Cheap Colby Gossett Jersey . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. Minnesota Vikings Jerseys . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak.MONTREAL -- It wont take long for the Montreal Impact to renew acquaintances with Dennis Iapichino. The left back was signed by D.C. United on Thursday after being waived by the Impact and will be available to face his former team when the two clubs play tonight at Saputo Stadium. You can see all the action on TSN beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. "Yeah, sometimes football is strange but first of all I want to wish the best of luck to Dennis because hes my teammate but also my friend," Impact centre back Matteo Ferrari said. "Im happy for him that he found another situation thats good for him because he needs to play and I think he will be good in D.C." Jeb Brovsky agreed that it was a curious coincidence that he may be facing his former teammate so soon after the 23-year-old Swiss defender was let go. In a little over a year with the Impact, Iapichino played 16 MLS regular season games, including 12 as a starter. "Its always interesting to see a guy in a different jersey," said Brovsky, who scored his first MLS goal in the 3-1 loss in Washington on Aug. 3. "Obviously we hope for the best for him as an individual and on and off the field I think we can only hope for his success, but on Saturday were certainly not hoping for his success." Saturdays match comes two weeks after league-worst D.C. defeated the Impact 3-1 at RFK Stadium. The Impact have been struggling against everyone lately. A frustrating 2-1 loss in Chicago last Saturday left Montreal with just one win its last eight MLS games. The Fire scored six minutes in before dropping the Impact into a 2-0 hole in the 23rd minute. "In Chicago we walked in the locker-room and everyone was exceptionally frustrated, to say the least, because we knew that we were probably the better team on the day," Brovsky said. "We wanted to get some goals and its never going to be pretty but frustration is a good word for us right now. But thats the great thing about this game. We get to come back on Saturday and prove ourselves again." The Impact have lost three straight on the road, beginning with a 4-0 thrashing by the New York Red Bulls on July 13. Montreal has been outscored 9-2 during the three road losses. Brovsky wonders what happened to the team that won a pair of West Coast road games on its way to a 4-0 start. "You know at the beginning of the year I think we had a bit of nastiness," Brovsky said. "I think we had a bit of grit, especially coming down the stretch, especially away from home. I thought in Portland and Seattle you saw a team who was just willing to put their face in front of the ball and really ddo anything they can to keep it out of the net.dddddddddddd "Obviously we havent got a couple of bounces in the past couple of weeks but I think you make your own bounces and obviously away from home we havent been making our bounces lately. We need to get back to that because we need to win some games on the road to get into a good playoff spot so I think it just comes down to a willingness to go the extra two or three feet." While success has eluded the Impact lately on the road, coach Marco Schallibaums squad has been treading water throughout its last four home games. Undefeated at 6-0-1 through their first seven games in Montreal, the Impact have won once and tied twice at Saputo Stadium since June 29, when a 4-3 loss to Colorado sunk their perfect home record. The rematch against D.C. United on home turf is timely in Schallibaums eyes. Washington went 13 games without a regular season Major League Soccer win over a three-month stretch from mid-March to mid-June. Last in the Eastern Conference with a 3-16-4 mark for a league-worst 13 points, D.C. United has yet to win in 10 road games this season, including seven losses and three draws. Curiously, Washington has streaked through U.S. Open competition. D.C. United won 2-0 in its semi-final at Chicago on Aug. 7 and will face Real Salt Lake in the final on Oct. 1. "Its good. Its always important to have another chance," Schallibaum said. "We know that theyre a team that had a good result against us and Chicago, but they lost again in the championship so its our job to make this pressure, its our job to score the first goal and its our job to win the game and get the three points." The six days off between games this week were a welcome oasis for the Impact, which has yet another busy stretch ahead with a CONCACAF Champions League game in Guatemala on Wednesday. "We played three games in eight days so weve got guys that have played a lot of minutes," midfielder Patrice Bernier said. "The rest of this week has been concentrating on trying to elaborate a little bit more and vary our game like we did in the second half in Chicago, where we opened up the game. "That creates space for everybody and then we can find the right solutions because we have a lot of guys with a lot of talent to find players and we have to be able to do that and be unpredictable against our opponents. A lot of teams have realized that going through the middle and blocking the middle and forcing us to maybe force passes and then countering on our mistakes, now we have to open the game and create as much space as we can for ourselves." Stitched NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Outlet Disocunt Football Jerseys China Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys White NFL Jerseys Cheap China NFL Jerseys White ' ' '