Tarise Bryson scored a game-high 27 points and
Shawn Jeppson added 22 points to lead Illinois State to a 68-61 Missouri Valley Conference victory Monday at Wichita State. Bryson and Jeppson combined for 25 of the Redbirds 31 second-half points.
In the process, Bryson, the Valleys leading scorer, became the 10th player in Illinois State history to surpass the 1,400 career point mark and passed former Redbirds Kenneth Buzz Shaw and Rico Hill to move into ninth place on the ISU scoring list with 1,420. Bryson had five assists, five rebounds and three steals to go with his 27 points.
C.C. McFall and Terrell Benton had 16 points apiece to lead the Shockers, 7-12, 2-8 in the Valley, who have lost six in a row and 11 of their last 13 games after starting the season 5-1. ISU out-shot WSU 49 percent to 41.5 percent from the field. The Shockers had a 37-26 rebounding advantage led by OJ Robinsons nine.
The Redbirds, 14-4 overall, 6-3 in the Missouri Valley, led by as many as 19 early in the second half but had to withstand a strong WSU charge which cut that lead as thin as 63-61 in the final minute before halftime.
Jeppson added seven rebounds, three assists, four steals and blocked a Matt Clark three-point shot which could have tied the game in the final minute. His four free throws were the final four points of the game, but the blocked shot was huge.
When I saw Clark coming off the corner, I got on his numbers and blocked his shot, said Jeppson, who, with his teammates started faster than usual against WSU. Weve been struggling early offensively, but for some reason tonight we were quicker early in the game.
Jeppsons first three-pointer of the first half came with ISU leading 15-13 and began a 13-0 run which helped the Redbirds roll to a 37-20 lead in the final minute. During those final 12 minutes of the first half, WSU had just two field goals and ISU featured the three-pointer, with Jeppsons three treys and Brysons two accounting for most of the points.
A nifty pass from Bryson to
Shedrick Fordfor a layup followed by a fast break Bryson layup gave ISU its biggest lead at 41-22 at the start of the second half. But McFall scored 12 points during an 18-7 Shocker spurt to trim the ISU lead to 48-40 with 12:47 left.
Jeppson fired-in a three and then finished a slashing layup and the Birds led 53-40. WSU answered with back-to-back baskets inside by Troy Mack and a dunk by Duke Tschomba and the lead was reduced to 53-46.
ISU led 62-48 on Brysons bucket with 6:15 left when WSU held the Birds scoreless for nearly four minutes, chopping that lead to 62-56. After a Ford free throw, Benton sunk a pair of tosses with 2:30 left and the lead was down to five, 63-58. Bentons three a minute later trimmed it to 63-61.
ISU missed two shots on the other end, but rebounded both and the Shockers fouled
Randy Rice after the second rebound. Rice hit a free throw with 31 seconds left--his only point--then Jeppson was fouled after his blocked shot with 22 seconds left and made both free throws.
Redbird coach
Tom Richardson was glad his team came away with a victory despite WSUs late rush.
We just couldnt make anything happen down the stretch, said Richardson. We made some mistakes down the stretch and came back to win. We missed free throws and, although we played good initial defense, we werent getting rebounds. But thank goodness we won. We have some guys who fought their hearts out.
The Redbirds return home to play Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. Saturday in Redbird Arena.
