NORMAL, Ill. -- Deontae Hawkins knocked down five 3-pointers and finished with 24 points and seven boards as Illinois State beat Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne in its home opener, 75-57 on Wednesday night.Hawkins hit 9 of 15 from the field, including 5 of 7 from distance ln leading the Redbirds. MiKyle McIntosh contributed 13 points.Illinois State raced to a 19-2 lead to start the game and held a 41-24 advantage at intermission.Fort Wayne got within nine points, 53-44 with 12:39 left in the game after John Konchar tipped in an offensive rebound, but the Redbirds scored the next five points to push their lead back to double digits.Mo Evans knocked down five 3-pointers to lead Fort Wayne with 19 points. Konchar added 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds.Illinois State (1-1) is picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference; Fort Wayne (1-2) is the preseason favorite to win the Summit League. Cheap Custom Jerseys .C. Lions has come to an end. 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Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Wholesale Custom Soccer Jerseys Online . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver coach Gary Kubiak says that in his 32 years in the NFL hes never seen this much depth or deftness at wide receiver.Ive said from day one: that really has the chance to be the strength of our team, Kubiak said Sunday. Its going to be really hard to make our team at that position.Last year, there were Pro Bowlers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders and not much else, as those two pass catchers accounted for 80 percent of the teams production at wide receiver.This year, coaches are excited about the leaps being made by holdovers Bennie Fowler, Jordan Norwood and Cody Latimer, all of whom stepped it up in the playoffs and are now vying for the No. 3 receiver job this summer.Theyre joined by two free agent acquisitions familiar with Kubiaks system in DeVier Posey and Marlon Brown.Rounding out the dozen receivers vying for half as many roster spots are four speedy rookies and Peyton Mannings 6-foot-5, personal practice partner Jordan Taylor, whose sessions with Manning helped the five-time MVP work his way back from a foot injury last year to lead Denvers Super Bowl run.Taylor made a catch Friday that was reminiscent of Odell Beckham Jr.s famous one-handed grab, only Taylor added a somersault to boot.Still, the most impressive catches of camp so far belong to undrafted rookie Kalif Raymond of Holy Cross, a 5-foot-9 blaze on special teams and blur from scrimmage.Making it difficult for the Broncos to try to hide them on the practice squad, Raymond and Taylor have spiced up the Super Bowl champs training camp, where there is an extraordinary three-way competition unfolding at quarterback.Even with Sanders and Thomas getting a day off, there was no shortage of crowd-pleasing catches against Denvers star-studded secondary. The bulk of them belonged to Taylor or Raymond, who helped rookie QB Paxton Lynch have his best day yet as he tries to catch Mark Sanchez and Trevor Siemian.This is my dream, so anything I can do to get on that field -- receiver, returnerr, sniper, gunner, anything they need me to do, Raymond said.dddddddddddd Ill go out there and snap the ball if they want me to.Taylor ran himself ragged last year, playing both receiver and safety on the scout squads after his daily workouts with the meticulous Manning.He was probably the most in-shape guy on the team by far, Tolbert said, adding that Taylor showed growth long before his daily sessions with Manning.Most people who are that tall, your footwork is not as crisp, especially coming out of college. So, the one thing Ive tried to do is work on his footwork and his technique and hes gotten tons better from the day he got here until now, Tolbert said. All the hard work hes put in is really gratifying.Also working in Taylors favor is that hes sneaky fast, Tolbert said. He doesnt look like hes moving that much, but hes gaining ground on you. And his catching radius is 6-8, Id guess. He has such a huge radius hes able to adjust his body in the air and make plays on the ball.Raymonds size is a matter of some debate.Short but stocky, Raymond swears he weighed in Sunday at 181 pounds although hes still listed at 160.Not that size matters to Tolbert.They can be tall like Jordan or short like Kalif, Tolbert said. Now, everybody wants bigger, stronger, faster. But there are some big, strong, fast people sitting at home on the couch because they cant make plays. So, I just want playmakers.Of which, he has no shortage.Game notes C/G Sam Brenner suffered a concussion Sunday, and RB Ronnie Hillman hurt his back. ... 10-year-old Grant Thornham attended Sundays practice with a bright orange cast on his right arm. He broke it Friday trying to catch one of Brandon McManus field goal attempts.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton ' ' '