Slated to resurrect a struggling program, IU freshmen Robert Vaden and D.J. White went right to work Saturday in their second game as Hoosiers.\nVaden and White saved the Hoosiers from a potentially embarrassing loss by scoring 16 of IU's last 17 points to defeat Western Illinois 64-60 Saturday at Assembly Hall.\nThe win pushes IU's record to 2-0 heading into this week's match-ups with No. 11 North Carolina at home Wednesday before traveling to take on No. 7 UConn Saturday.\nIU coach Mike Davis said the freshmen pair's play was how he envisioned them playing. White finished with 15 points and two rebounds while Vaden scored 12 and added eight boards.\n"We won this basketball game because D.J. White and Robert Vaden played with energy," Davis said. "D.J. made some plays. It's going to take time for D.J. I wish we had a couple more games to get him ready for this stretch of games coming up. But I thought he grew up. (Vaden and White) played well."\nWhile the freshmen provided the points, a veteran Hoosier sparked IU off the bench. With IU trailing 52-47 with just more than six minutes remaining, senior walk-on Ryan Tapak entered the game for the first time, replacing junior Marshall Strickland. Tapak's entrance came to the delight of the 11,635 Assembly Hall faithful, and he promptly found Vaden for a 3-pointer to draw IU within two, 52-50.\nWith Tapak leading the team, IU found itself tied 58-58 with 2:20 left to go after White and Vaden scored eight straight points. During that stretch, White was four of five from the free throw line while Vaden was two of two. White also scored on a post move and was fouled, prompting the 6-foot-9-inch freshman to flex and scream for the suddenly rowdy crowd.\nWhite said he responded to Davis' challenge while he was on the bench with foul trouble.\n"He told me to come in and step up," White said. "That's what I did for the team. I brought energy to the table."\nWhite's energetic play wasn't finished. The game remained tied heading into the final minute before White rebounded his own miss and scored on a put-back while being fouled. White hit the subsequent free throw to give IU a 61-58 lead.\nWestern Illinois' Fred Oguns' attempted game-trying 3-pointer missed and Strickland grabbed the rebound. Strickland hit one of two and Vaden hit a pair of free throws after T.J. Gray's layup to give IU the 64-60 win.\nVaden said Tapak's coach-on-the-floor like mentality had a tremendous impact on IU's victory.\n"That's what a point guard is supposed to be," Vaden said. "We all listen to him because he knows the game of basketball just like he's the coach."\nIU was out-rebounded for a second straight game, 37-35.\nJunior guard Bracey Wright finished with four points while only playing 25 minutes, with seven coming in the second half. Davis said he needed more energy from his All Big Ten guard -- who poured in 20 points in the season opening victory against Indiana State.\n"He picked up four fouls and I was going to leave him in but I felt we needed energy more than anything else," Davis said. "Hopefully, Bracey can come out next game and play with that energy. We need Bracey to be good for us to have a chance."
IU 56 -- Indiana St. 52\nIndiana State almost did it a third time in a row.\nTrailing by three in the waning seconds, ISU's David Moss looked for the tying basket, but a Marshall Strickland steal off Moss' pass prevented ISU's tying opportunity while stopping the Sycamores two-game winning streak against the Hoosiers with a 56-52 IU victory.\nIn its season opener, IU improved to 1-0 while ISU evened at 1-1.\nIt didn't come easy for IU coach Mike Davis' squad, however.\nIU never led in the first half after going into the break tied at 26. ISU also out-rebounded the Hoosiers, 33-28 for the game.\nDavis said last year's 14-15 squad would've lost this type of close game after ISU's Tyson Schnitker's tying basket with just more than three minutes to play.\n"Once they tied the game up it would have been a situation where we all would've been looking at Bracey to score a basket," Davis said. "Tonight, defensively, we stayed in there."\n-- Contact sports editor John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.
