Dec. 19, 2009
Final Stats
SALT LAKE CITY -
After suffering its first two losses of the season, Illinois State seniors Osiris Eldridge and Lloyd Phillips scored 17 points each to propel the Redbirds to 73-63 win over Utah in the inaugural Mountain West-Missouri Valley Conference Challenge Series Saturday at the Huntsman Center.
Eldridge and Phillips were two of four Redbirds (8-2) who finished the game in double figures, with Austin Hill chipping in 12 points in his first game back from injury and senior Dinma Odiakosa adding 10 points against the Utes (5-6). Freshman Jackie Carmichael also had a solid game with seven points and 10 rebounds and Kellen Thornton added eight points in the victory.
The first half was a sloppy one for both teams, as the squads combined for 16 turnovers. The Redbirds shot 44 percent from the field and held the Utes to just 30 percent, including a 1-for-11 effort from three-point range. ISU struck first on a layup by Phillips, but Utah answered quickly with a layup by Jace Tavita. The squads traded baskets to a 6-6 tie, before Thornton hit his first trey of the game to put ISU up 9-6 with just over 14 minutes remaining in the half.
The Redbirds held onto that lead for the rest of the half, eventually extending the lead to seven points at 20-13 with just over five minutes remaining after a pair of free throws by Phillips. The Utes cut the lead to five points at 22-17 after a layup by Kim Tillie soon after, but Phillips came up big again with a three-pointer to give ISU its biggest lead of the half at 25-17 with just over a minute left on the clock before halftime. Phillips put an exclamation point on the first 20 minutes of play with a jumper with five seconds remaining, as he finished with nine points in the first half to give ISU a 27-20 lead at the break.
ISU did not let up at the start of the second half, as Odiakosa threw down a thunderous dunk off an assist from Carmichael and Eldridge added a layup to put the `Birds up by 11 points early in the stanza. Utah answered quickly with a 12-4 run, capped off by two free throws by Tillie, to cut the ISU lead to 35-32 with 13:43 left to play.
The lead stayed in single digits for the Redbirds until Carmichael scored six-straight points for the Redbirds to extend the lead to 10 points at 48-38 with just over eight minutes left in the game. The Utes chipped away at the lead and cut it to 50-45 on a three-pointer by Luka Drca just a minute later and kept the deficit manageable until the 3:35 mark, when Odiakosa threw down another dunk on an assist from Phillips to extend the lead seven points at 56-49.
From there, a bucket by Hill and some clutch free throw shooting secured the victory for ISU. Eldridge, Phillips, Hill and Odiakosa combined to make 15-of-16 free throws in the final two minutes of play, with Phillips draining all six of his attempts. ISU shot 47.1 percent from the field in the game to snap the two-game slide and held the dangerous Utah perimeter game to just 4-for-19 from three-point range in the contest. Tillie led the way for the Utes with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Drca added 19 points and Carlon Brown finished with 15 points in the loss.
The Redbirds return to action Tuesday, Dec. 22, on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena in their final tune up of the non-conference season against Grambling State. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.
