MADRID, Spain – Illinois State teamed up to make 18 3-pointers en route to a 121-82 win over CB Alcobendas Sunday night at Pabellón Municipal Antela Parada, in the Redbirds' first of four exhibition games during their 10-day trip to Spain.
"I like how hard we played," ISU head coach Dan Muller said. "It's the first game in August after 10 practices, so there were some sloppy things of course. I thought everyone came out with a good mindset, and guys had good attitudes. You could see guys were tired out here because of jetlag after we just flew over here yesterday, but I did like how hard they tried to compete."
Led by DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell's 21 points, seven Redbirds reached double-figures in the winning effort. Akoon-Purcell added six rebounds, and MiKyle McIntosh collected a team-best 10 boards while scoring 10 points.
Nick Banyard netted Illinois State's first five points of the game to help establish an early lead that the Redbirds never relinquished. A Tony Wills offensive rebound followed by a putback basket increased ISU's advantage to 19-8 in the first quarter. CB Alcobendas later pulled within 26-16 before the Redbirds answered with five-straight points, including a 3-pointer by Justin McCloud.
Akoon-Purcell buried a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer, increasing Illinois State's lead to 69-38. During ISU's first possession of the second half, Deontae Hawkins banked in a shot following Quintin Brewer's offensive rebound, and the Redbirds continued to pull away.
ISU will next play the Madrid All-Stars Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. CT. Click here to view a complete schedule. For continuous coverage of the Illinois State men's basketball team's trip to Spain, including game and travel recaps, photo galleries and more, visit GoRedbirds.com.
Illinois State 121, CB Alcobendas 82 Stats
*Akoon-Purcell: 21 points, 6 rebounds
Hawkins: 14 points, 2 rebounds
Evans: 12 points, 2 rebounds
Griffin: 12 points, 2 rebounds
*McCloud: 12 points, 0 rebounds
Harvey: 10 points, 2 rebounds
McIntosh: 10 points, 10 rebounds
*Banyard: 8 points, 5 rebounds
*Lee: 6 points, 1 rebound
*Brewer: 5 points, 8 rebounds
Hein: 5 points, 0 rebounds
Wills: 4 points, 2 rebounds
Thompson: 2 points, 1 rebound
*Indicates Starter
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