Jan. 23, 2011
Box Score |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 
Post-Game Interview
Play-by-Play Highlights
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State (9-11, 1-8 MVC) men's basketball team earned its first Missouri Valley Conference win of the season with a 59-55 victory over in-state rival Southern Illinois (10-10, 4-5 MVC) Sunday night on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Redbirds.
Tony Lewis led the ISU scoring effort with 15 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, including a late board to seal the win for Illinois State. Austin Hill added 11 points and Trey Blue pitched in 10 to round out the double-digit scoring efforts for the Redbirds.
Carlton Fay, who scored 33 points against Illinois State in the game in Carbondale, Ill., earlier this season, paced the Salukis with 15 points, with 13 of them coming in the second half. Mamadou Seck led SIU with eight rebounds and scored eight in the losing effort.
The Salukis jumped out to the early lead, opening the game on an 8-2 run into the first media timeout at the 15:05 mark. SIU continued their hot shooting out of the timeout, extending their lead to 13-2 after a Jack Crowder three-pointer from the left wing with just over 13 minutes remaining in the opening half. A bucket from Lewis ended the Redbird scoring drought as ISU connected on just two of its first 11 shot attempts.
Illinois State used the Lewis basket to ignite a 7-0 run and cut the Saluki lead to 13-9 midway through the first half. Southern Illinois maintained their lead over the next six minutes, until back-to-back triples from Blue and a driving layup by Hill pulled the Redbirds within one at 20-19 and forced a Saluki timeout with 3:57 remaining.
The Redbirds took their first lead at 28-27 on a trio of free throws by Jon Ekey, who was fouled beyond the arc with 37.2 seconds left in the half. SIU regained the lead after John Freeman knocked down a pair from the charity stripe with 11 seconds to go, but it would be ISU who would take the lead into the locker room, 30-29, when Anthony Cousin nailed a pair of free throws of his own and a long three-point attempt by Freeman fell short at the horn.
Southern Illinois started the second half just as they began the first, scoring the first six points to retake the lead at 35-30 and force an Illinois State timeout. SIU pushed its lead to 42-35 after a deep three by Crowder capped a 13-5 Saluki run.
Illinois State responded with an 8-0 run to regain the advantage at 43-42 on a pair of free throws from Blue, but Fay quickly buried a triple from the right corner on the next possession to swing momentum back to the SIU sideline. The Saluki lead would be short lived after Blue came up with a steal and dished it off to an open Lewis under the basket to knot the score at 45-45 with 7:30 remaining.
Lewis came up with an big offensive board and a put back to put the Redbirds back in front and Alex Rubin connected on a three-point attempt from the right wing to bring the ISU crowd to its feet and give Illinois State its largest lead at 50-45 with just over six minutes left in the contest.
A Fay free throw pulled the Salukis to within one at 56-55 at the 1:07 mark, but after SIU forced a missed shot by the Redbirds, Fay was whistled for traveling on the ensuing possession to give Illinois State a chance to seal the victory at the foul line.
Lewis stepped to the stripe and hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to 58-55, pulled down a defensive rebound on a miss by Kendal Brown-Surles and then knocked down one of two tries with 7.9 seconds remaining to give ISU the 59-55 win.
The Redbirds controlled the glass, grabbing 34 rebounds to the Salukis' 26 and limiting the guests to just three offensive rebounds. Second-half free throw shooting was also a key for Illinois State as it connected on 13-of-19 second-half free throw tries, while SIU was 1-for-3 over the final 20 minutes.
The Redbirds will return to action Wednesday, January 26, when they travel to Peoria, Ill., for a matchup with in-state rival Bradley at 7:05 p.m.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
