Dec. 13, 2009
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Recap the Redbird Basketball Gameday Blog
NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State's front court combined to score 39 points, keyed a 42-22 edge in the paint scoring, and led 49-28 on the boards, but a three-point barrage by Niagara negated the inside imbalance and helped hand the Redbirds their first loss, 76-68, on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena Sunday.
Dinma Odiakosa scored a team-high 14 points for the Redbirds (7-1) and tied Jackie Carmichael for the game lead with 13 rebounds, but 26 points from Niagara's Tyrone Lewis and 10 three-pointers from the Purple Eagles (7-4) proved the difference. Illinois State had won its previous seven contests and fell to Niagara for the second time in as many meeting between the teams. Osiris Eldridge (12), Carmichael (11) and Kellen Thornton (10) all reached double figures for Illinois State, which shot 42 percent from the field but just 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from beyond the arc.
Illinois State ended the first half with a bang as Carmichael flushed an alley-oop from Lloyd Phillips as time expired. Despite the bucket and leading for much of the first half, the Redbirds trailed 35-33 at the break. Carmichael and Thornton tied Lewis for the lead with eight points in the first half.
The Redbirds worked back into the lead at 53-51 with 10:47 to play, but a 18-7 run by Niagara pushed the margin to nine with a little more than four and a half minutes to play. Illinois State cut the lead to six after tip-in by Thornton at 2:12, but that would be the closest the `Birds would get.
Kashief Edwards scored 14 and Austin Cooley added 10 for Niagara. The Purple Eagles made 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) three-point field goals to tie the most treys scored against the Redbirds this season. Niagara forced 14 Illinois State turnovers and turned those into 18 points.
Illinois State will hit the road for just the third time this season when the Redbirds visit Ohio (Dec. 16), before travelling to Utah (Dec. 19) as part of the inaugural Mountain West-Missouri Valley Conference Challenge. Illinois State will return home and play host to Grambling State (Dec. 22) before opening Valley play against Wichita State at Redbird Arena (Dec. 29).
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