Jan. 30, 2010
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Illinois State vs. Bradley 
NORMAL, Ill. -
Senior Dinma Odiakosa scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to post his eighth double-double of the season, as Illinois State defeated rival Bradley, 66-47, in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,200 fans Saturday afternoon on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
Odiakosa finished the game 9-for-12 from the field and was 7-for-11 from the free throw line to lead the way for the Redbirds (15-7, 6-5 MVC). Fellow seniors Osiris Eldridge and Lloyd Phillips each scored 13 points and junior Tony Lewis set a new career-high 13 rebounds in the victory over the Braves (10-11, 5-6 MVC), who were held to a season-low in points by ISU.
The two squads fought back-and-forth to a 7-7 tie, before Bradley took its first lead of the game at 9-7 after two free throws by Sam Singh at the 15:25 mark. ISU came right back and knotted the game at 9-9, after a layup by Eldridge and then extended the lead to 14-9 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half after a layup by Odiakosa a three-pointer from Eldridge.
Bradley later cut the lead to just three points at 19-16 with just under eight minutes remaining on a three-pointer by Andrew Warren, but Odiakosa followed with a thunderous dunk to move the lead back to five points at 21-16. The Braves answered with a quick 5-0 run to knot the score at 21-21 with 4:20 left in the first half, after Taylor Brown connected from three-point range. Illinois State quickly answered with six-straight points to move the lead to 27-21 with 2:37 left to play, forcing Bradley head coach Jim Les to call a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Sam Maniscalco nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead to three points, but Austin Hill answered with a trey of his own to move the lead back to six points at 30-24. The three-point barrage continued as Phillips connected from long distance to extend the ISU lead to 33-24 with just over a minute remaining. Two offsetting buckets sent the Redbirds into the locker room with a nine-point lead, 35-26, to cap off an exciting first half that saw five ties and two lead changes.
ISU scored the first five points out of the break to extend the lead to double digits at 39-26, after a jumper by Odiakosa and then widened the advantage to 16 points after Phillips connected on his second three-pointer of the game to give the Redbirds a 43-27 lead with 17:14 remaining in the game.
The Redbird defense increased its intensity and held the Braves without a field goal until the 13:34 mark, when Maniscalco hit a jumper from the right elbow. ISU answered with back-to-back layups by Jackie Carmichael and Lewis to extend lead to 48-29 with 12:14 remaining in the game.
Bradley slowly cut into the lead and eventually cut the deficit to 12 points at 52-40 after a three-pointer by Warren at the 6:46 mark. However, the Redbirds answered with an 8-0 run thanks to three-pointers by Phillips and Eldridge to give the Redbirds a 20-point lead at 60-40 with 5:06 left to play.
ISU held on the rest of the way and came away with a 66-47 win over BU. The Redbirds won the points in the paint battle by a large margin, 34-10, and out-rebounded the Braves 50-28. The Redbirds return to action Wednesday, Feb. 3, for their first matchup against Indiana State this season. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at the Hulman Center and the game will be televised on Comcast Spotlight.
