Jan. 15, 2011
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NORMAL, Ill. -
The visiting Evansville Purple Aces (9-8, 3-4 MVC) took advantage of 22 Illinois State (8-10, 0-7 MVC) turnovers to get past the Redbirds, 59-54, Saturday night at Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
Colt Ryan paced the Evansville scoring attack with 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Zeke Upshaw poured in a season- and career-high nine points to lead ISU.
The Redbirds started off slow, falling behind 11-4 after the second media timeout at the 11:45 mark of the first half. Illinois State responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 11-11 after a layup from Blake Mishler.
ISU took its first lead of the game at 17-15 after two free-throws from Anthony Cousin and Jon Ekey extended the Redbird lead to five, at 20-15, after connecting on a three-point field goal from the left corner.
Illinois State pushed the margin to 26-20 late in the first half, but Evansville was able to cut the lead to three at 28-25 entering halftime. The `Birds headed into the locker room with the lead despite turning the ball over 11 times in the opening 20 minutes, while UE recorded six turnovers.
After ISU extended its lead to eight early in the second half, Evansville went on a 15-2 run to take a 40-35 lead with 12:52 remaining. After an offensive struggle on both sides for the next four minutes, the Redbirds regained the lead 43-42 at the 8:19 mark after an offensive rebound and jumper from Tony Lewis.
Alex Rubin's second three-point field goal of the second half increased the Illinois State lead to 46-42 at the 7:33 mark of the second half, but the Purple Aces responded with an 8-0 run, capped by a three-point field goal from Ryan, to take a 50-46 lead at the 3:09 mark in the second half.
ISU was down 55-51 with 13 seconds left, when Upshaw was fouled on a three-point shot, but proceeded to miss all three free-throw attempts. A late three from Cousin cut the Evansville lead to three with five seconds left, but two free-throws from Denver Holmes sealed the victory for the Purple Aces.
The loss leaves ISU 0-7 in conference play for the first time since the 2002-03 season, when the Redbirds recorded eight conference defeats before pulling out a victory.
Illinois State will look to snap its winless skid Tuesday, Jan. 18, when it travels to Des Moines, Iowa, to take on the Drake Bulldogs. Tip time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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