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NORMAL, Ill. – MiKyle McIntosh tied his career high with 25 points and the Illinois State men's basketball team matched a Redbird Arena-record with 15 3-pointers in a 76-64 win over Drake Tuesday night on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
McIntosh was one of four Redbirds in double figures as a balanced ISU attack was too much for Drake to handle. Deontae Hawkins scored 17 points on 5-of-6 3-point shooting, Justin McCloud scored 12 and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell added 10 points. All eight Redbirds who saw playing time scored at least two points and Tony Wills dished out a career-high seven assists.
The Redbirds came out red hot from the field, knocking down their first five field goals, including three 3-pointers. Hawkins canned a pair of triples, but Drake matched ISU shot for shot to stay within one at the first media timeout, 13-12.
With 14 minutes to play, Ore Arogundade capped a 9-0 Drake run with a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the night. However, McCloud answered with a three of his own, which gave ISU the lead for good, and Hawkins followed with his third three of the game. Both threes were part of a 9-2 run, but Drake was able to keep the deficit at three.
Following a Reed Timmer layup, Akoon-Purcell went on a 6-0 run by himself, which featured two tomahawk jams and pushed the Redbird lead to nine. But as it had done for the entire first half, Drake fought back with timely shooting. A pair of threes got Drake within three, but McCloud once again stifled the comeback with a trey from the corner and another one from the wing on a two-on-one fastbreak.
The threes were part of a 7-0 run that gave ISU a 10-point lead with two minutes remaining in the half. Drake was able to whittle the deficit down to five before the halftime break as ISU took a 40-35 lead into the locker room.
The Redbirds knocked down a season-high eight first half 3-pointers, including three apiece from Hawkins and McCloud. ISU shot 44 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, but Drake was able to stay in the game by shooting 62 percent.
The break did anything but cool of the hot-shooting Redbirds as Hawkins and McIntosh buried a pair of trifectas to begin the second half. The threes were part of a 17-0 run that gave ISU its largest lead of the game at 20 points. The Redbirds scored on seven of their first nine second half possessions while Drake scored just two points in the first seven minutes of the second half.
However, Drake countered with an 11-0 run of its own, which cut the lead to nine. During the run, ISU suffered a nearly five minute long scoreless drought. McIntosh put a halt to the run with a free throw and followed with a layup to put the lead back to double digits. McIntosh's work was not finished though, as he drained three 3-pointers on three-straight possessions in less than two minutes to give ISU a 17-point lead.
The Bulldogs would not go away, answering with a 9-0 run, but the three-ball was once again friendly to ISU as Hawkins buried his fifth of the game to put a dagger in Drake's comeback aspirations. Hawkins' five 3-pointers tied a career high while McIntosh tied a career high with eight made field goals.
Drake shot 55 percent from the field, but was forced into 21 turnovers by the Redbird defense. ISU turned the 21 turnovers into 27 points on the offensive end. It was the most turnovers forced by ISU in a Valley game this season.
ISU will take its three-game winning streak on the road to Missouri State Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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