Neil Plank tied a career high with 21 points, Greg Dilligard set a new career high with 14 points and Gregg Alexander had 10 points and 10 assists, as a total team effort propelled Illinois State to a 79-67 win over Marshall in front of 6,689 fans Saturday night at Redbird Arena.
With the win, Illinois State (7-2) concludes a six-game homestand, in which they won five of their six contests. The loss drops the Thundering Herd of Marshall to 1-5 on the year.
The Redbirds did not get out of the gate well, as they fell behind 10-0 after the first two and a half minutes of play. After Illinois State cut the deficit to eight at 16-8, Plank and Dilligard would then go on a 9-0 run, giving ISU its first lead of the game at 17-16 at the 10:39 mark. The duo continued to shine in the first half, as Plank had 18 and Dilligard had 12 at the break. It only took Dilligard 11 minutes to best his previous career high of 10 points and the Redbirds led 41-36 at the break.
In the second half, Lorenzo Gordon scored eight of the first 11 ISU points, after only playing four minutes in the first half. As Marshall got within seven at 59-52, the Birds went on a 10-0 run, punctuated by a thunderous Dilligard dunk at the 6:28 mark, giving ISU their biggest lead of the game at 69-52. After the scoring spurt, Illinois State never let the lead dip below 12, finishing with the 79-67 win.
The Redbirds dominated the game in the paint, as they outscored Marshall 40-20 inside. In addition, after opening the game missing its first five shots, ISU ended the game shooting 54 percent from the field.
Tre Whitted and David Anderson paced Marshall with 13 points each.
Illinois State will next be in action on Saturday, December 18, as they hit the road to take on Loyola-Chicago at 1:00 p.m.
