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 Dexter Williams Jersey . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Brett Favre Packers Jersey . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. http://www.shoptheofficialpackers.com/Elite-Dave-Robinson-Packers-Jersey/ .com) - The Montreal Canadiens embark on their first road trip of the season as they head out west to battle the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Paul Hornung Youth Jersey . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. Ray Nitschke Jersey . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Not so fast, Usain Bolt.Please dont run away from us after this Olympics. Dont even think about putting an end to the greatest show in track.The Olympics need you badly. The sport of track needs you desperately.On a beautiful night in Rio, the most beautiful sight at the Olympic Stadium had to be Bolt chasing down Justin Gatlin and pulling away to an unprecedented third straight Olympic gold in the race that crowns the fastest man on earth.Bolt preened like the superstar he is, then ran yet another race to back it up. Then he preened some more, much to the delight of those who came to watch history.I told you guys I wanted to set myself apart from everybody else, Bolt said. This is the Olympics that I have to do it at, so I came here focused and ready to go and it was brilliant.The golden shoes were a nice touch, but the gold medal was far more impressive. It was No. 7 over three Olympics for Bolt, and the odds are he will have two more before these Olympics come to a close.If that is truly the end, as Bolt has said it will be, he will go into the record books as the greatest sprinter ever. But Bolt has always been more than that, ever since he announced his dominance of the sport with three gold medals in his Olympic debut eight years ago in Beijing.The mere mention of his name Sunday night prompted roars in the stadium. The victory lap he took carrying a stuffed Olympic mascot was an added bonus, a chance for the crowd to stick around and show him some love.Several hundred of them stayed more than an hour after the race, chanting Bolts name and shrieking with excitement each time it appeared he might come out to acknowledge them.Hes the undisputed star of a sport that doesnt produce stars anymore, a runner so popular in his native Jamaica that he is often compared to the iconic reggae master Bob Marley.And as a runner who has never tested positive for anything, he may be the only thing holding together a sport so decimated by doping that the entire country of Russia was banned from track and field at these Olympics.Its hard to believe anything you see on the track anymore. Thats especially true in the 100, where Ben Johnson famoussly lost his gold medal in 1988 after a positive drug test, and where four of the five fastest men in the record books have also been caught doping.ddddddddddddBelieve it, though, when you see the magnificence of a runner so smooth and fast that nothing that made him this spectacular could have come out of a bottle.Hes so good he didnt flinch when afterward he was asked about being the greatest ever.Yeah, thats what Im here to prove. Thats what Im here to prove again and again. I just want to be among the greatest, so thats why I am here.Gatlin would have been heading toward a second Olympic gold in the 100 against anyone else, something that would not have pleased the crowd that booed him because of his doping suspension. This was a race viewed by many as good versus evil, though in track nothing is ever as simple as it looks.Bolt overcame his typically slow start to catch Gatlin just after the midway point of the race and pull away in what for him was a relatively slow time of 9.81 seconds. By the time he hit the finish line Bolt was pointing to his chest, where the only thing missing on his uniform was a Superman cape.Bolt would take a long, lingering victory lap around the stadium, finally stopping in one end to unlace his gold spikes and take selfies with fans. They wanted more, and he delivered once again, turning his yellow hat backward before kneeling down and doing his To the World pose.And over the loudspeakers, Marleys Jammin echoed through the stadium.Theatrical, yes, but thats Bolt. This is a guy, after all, who was last seen taking selfies as he danced the samba with a line of women at his press conference earlier in the week.Hes a showman extraordinaire and an athlete unparalleled. The combination is exquisite, with the only downside being the world only gets to see him this way once every four years.The only hope is that his retirement plans are as short as his races.---Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ' ' '