Nov. 27, 2010
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NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State held a comfortable 15-point lead at halftime of its game Saturday night against Louisiana-Monroe, but it was nearly erased in the second half before the Redbirds (4-1) held on for a 59-55 victory over the Warhawks (2-4) in the third game of the Global Sports Roundball Classic on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
Austin Hill scored nine of his 16 points in the second half, including the final two free throws to secure the win for the Redbirds, and Jackie Carmichael scored 14 points and grabbed three rebounds to lead the way for ISU. Tony Lewis also posted a solid effort with nine points and tied a season-high with seven rebounds.
Illinois State took the early advantage on a jumper by Lewis, but at bucket was quickly answered by ULM's Fred Brown, as he connected from three-point range to put the Warhawks up 3-2 just a minute into the contest. That lead would not last long, as a jumper by Carmichael gave the Redbirds the lead back at 4-3 and the lead would grow to 9-5 when Hill stole a Brown pass and took it the other way for a fast break layup on the other end.
The Redbirds extended the lead to eight points at 13-5 at the 12:28 mark after a long jumper from the top of the key from Alex Rubin, but ULM answered right back as Tommie Sykes threw down an uncontested dunk to cut the ISU lead to 13-7. ISU quickly answered with a 16-2 run, highlighted by seven points from Carmichael and a pair of three-pointers from Trey Blue, to widen the lead to 29-9 with just under four minutes left in the first half.
ULM ended a eight-minute scoring drought when Sykes connected on a jumper to cut the ISU lead to 29-11 and the Warhawks continued to chip away at the Redbirds' lead after Hugh Mingo connected from three-point range to make the score 31-17 with just under a minute left. A Blake Mishler jumper and a free throw from Sykes made the score 33-18 in favor of the Redbirds as the teams headed to their respective locker rooms at halftime. The Redbirds held the Warhawks to just 26.9 percent shooting from the field and ULM's 18 points scored in the first half were the fewest for an ISU since Creighton scored 18 on March 7, 2009.
The Warhawks came out of the break on fire and went on a 17-6 run to cut the Redbirds' lead to just four points at 39-35 at the second media timeout of the second half. ULM shot 53.8 percent from the field during the run, including a 3-for-5 effort from three-point range, and was led by Lawrence Gilbert who hit a pair of three-pointers and finished with 10 points during the run.
That lead would dwindle to three points at 41-38, before Hill scored eight-straight points for the Redbirds to extend the lead back to 49-41 with 7:56 left in the game. ULM cut the lead back to four points at 52-48 with 4:19 left in the game on a layup by Gilbert, and a three-pointer from Brown with 2:33 left in the game cut the Redbirds' lead to two points at 53-51.
Illinois State went back up by five points, after a free throw from Hill and a pair of free throws from Carmichael, but another clutch three-pointer from Mingo narrowed the advantage back to just two points at 56-54 with 51 seconds left in the game. After missed jumpers by Alex Rubin and Brown, Rubin was fouled and hit the first of two free throws to put the Redbirds back up by three points before Sykes was fouled and made the second of his two free throws to make the score 57-55 with two seconds left.
Hill was fouled on the ensuing in-bounds play and made both of his free throws to secure the 59-55 victory for the Redbirds. ISU returns to action tomorrow at 3:35 p.m. on Doug Collins Court for the final game of the 2010 Global Sports Roundball Classic against Jacksonville State.
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