Nov. 10, 2010
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Post Game Notes 
NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State men's basketball team defeated visiting Quincy University, 80-70, in its only exhibition game of the season Wednesday evening at Redbird Arena. Sophomore Justin Clark led the Redbirds with 11 points and freshman Jon Ekey added 10.
ISU finished the contest shooting 53 percent from behind the three-point line, draining 16-of-30 attempts and making good on 10 of their 15 free throw opportunities. Seven Redbirds connected on multiple three-point tries.
Tyler Thompson was one of three Quincy players to score in double-digits and led all players with 14 points. Andrew Kueker pitched in 13 and Adam Highberger added 10 to lead the Hawks offensively.
Illinois State distributed the ball early with four different players scoring the first nine points for the Redbirds as they took at 9-4 lead at the first media timeout. Clark opened the game with a three-pointer from the corner, sophomore Jackie Carmichael added a free throw, Ekey drilled a trey from the right wing and senior Alex Rubin capped the opening minutes with an up-and-under layup.
Quincy trimmed the ISU lead to 14-12 on a transition jumper from Tyler Burke. The two squads continued to trade baskets until the Hawks took their first lead of the night, 26-25, on a reverse layup by Courtney Belger with just over seven minutes to play in the opening half.
A bucket by Freshman Jordan Threloff gave the Redbirds a 38-35 advantage with 47 seconds remaining, but Quincy drew even at 38-38 with a Tyler Thompson free throw and a deep jumper from Chris Babbitt as the horn sounded to end the first half.
The Hawks and Redbirds traded triples to open the second half as QU took a 47-44 lead after Thompson rattled home a three from the right wing. Illinois State continued to live from beyond the arc, regaining the lead, 52-49, on a three-pointer by sophomore Anthony Cousin from the top of the key.
ISU started to pull away, taking a 59-51 lead on a free throw by sophomore Trey Blue. Quincy responded with a pair of baskets, but the Redbirds continued their hot shooting from behind the three-point line and used back-to-back to treys from sophomore John Wilkins and push the advantage to double-digits at 67-56 with eight minutes to play.
Despite the hot shooting from Illinois State, the Hawks would not go away, as they cut the ISU lead to 74-65 after Andrew Kueker buried a deep three at the 4:05 mark. However, Quincy would get no closer as Illinois State came away with an 80-70 win.
The Redbirds took advantage of 16 QU turnovers, turning them into 24 points, but were outrebounded by the guests 32-27. Smith collected five steals to lead the ISU defense, while Carmichael led all players with seven rebounds.
The Redbirds will open their regular season Sunday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. when they host SIU Edwardsville.
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