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NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's basketball team shot 31 percent from the field and dropped its third-straight Missouri Valley Conference contest, losing 66-55 to Evansville Friday night on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
The Redbirds (9-10, 3-3 MVC) finished 23-75 from the field and 6-31 from beyond the arc. The 31 three-point attempts were the second most this season for the Redbirds and ISU attempted just four free throws in the game. Conversely, Evansville knocked down 22 of 44 attempts from the field, and shot well from the free throw line, hitting 17 of 27 attempts.
The two teams traded baskets in a competitive start to the game, and three-straight field goals from a trio of Redbirds gave ISU an early 9-6 lead. MiKyle McIntosh followed up his monstrous first half at Southern Illinois with another quick start, scoring six points and grabbing three rebounds in the first five minutes of action.
After ISU built an early lead, Evansville's D.J. Balentine brought the Aces back all by himself, scoring seven-straight points to give Evansville its first lead of the game. Balentine scored 11 of the Aces' first 15 points.
The Redbirds suffered a scoreless drought that went over four minutes, but McIntosh snapped it with a strong take to the rim and Tony Wills followed with a steal and a score to tie the game at 15 with 11 minutes to play. Paris Lee made it a 7-0 run in less than a minute by drilling his second three of the game on the next possession.
However, neither team was able to pull away in the first half. Until Evansville took a six point lead with 2:30 left in the half, neither team had led by more than four. The Aces would maintain their six point lead for the rest of the half and went to the locker room leading, 35-29.
The Redbirds' defense forced 10 Evansville turnovers, which led to 16 points. Evansville made 6-of-8 free throws while ISU did not attempt a first half free throw.
In the second half, Evansville extended its lead to nine with 13:22 to play as both teams struggled from the field. With 11:15 to play, and the deficit still at nine, Deontae Hawkins drilled a three-pointer to cut the lead to six. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell trimmed the deficit to five with an alley-oop jam and McIntosh got it to four with a free throw. However, Mislav Brozja knocked down a three-pointer the next trip down to extend the Aces' lead back to seven and the Redbirds would never come within seven again.
ISU held Balentine scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but the senior shook loose for a two-point jumper to extend the lead to nine and connected on a pair of free throws the next possession. ISU went into a 2-13 shooting slump and Evansville was able to work the lead to 13 with 1:54 to play.
Evansville finished off the final two minutes at the free throw line and picked up the 11 point win. Lee and Akoon-Purcell each scored 12 points for the Redbirds while McIntosh finished with nine and Hawkins scored eight. Balentine led all scorers with 25 and Egidijus Mockevicius added 13 points and 20 rebounds.
The Redbirds have the rest of the weekend off before traveling across I-74 to face Bradley Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Peoria, Illinois.
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