CHICAGO, Ill. – Milik Yarbrough tied a career-high with 30 points, while Josh Jefferson narrowly missed his as the Illinois State Redbirds fell 94-75 on Wednesday evening at UIC.
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How It Happened
The teams battled back-and-forth for the first five minutes, as the squad were knotted in a 10-10 score early in the game. UIC followed with a run, scoring 13 of the next 15 points, pushing ahead to a 13 point lead with 11:16 to play in the opening period. The Redbirds would not back down, and fought back, using a 9-0 push to knot the score at 34 on a Yarbrough jumper in the paint. Trailing by two at 43-41, UIC closed the half on an 11-2 run to take an 11-point, 54-43 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Coming out of the halftime break, Yarbrough caught fire and scored ISU's first 11 points in which the Redbirds ran off an 11-2 run to climb within two points with 17:12 to play in the contest. A Yarbrough jumper closed the gap to one at 58-57 with 16:10 to play before the hosts went on a 16-2 streak and the deficit never hit single digits the rest of the way in the 19-point loss.
Key Moment
Illinois State got 11 straight points from Yarbrough to open the second half, as the senior helped the Redbirds close the deficit to two early in the period.
Inside the Box Score
- Yarbrough tied his career-high of 30 set last season against Murray State, making 11-of-20 shots from the field and 2-of-5 from long range. He also added six rebounds and two assists.
- Jefferson scored 18 points, one shy of his career-high of 19 set in the Cayman Islands against Akron, making seven of his 16 attempts from the field and 4-of-9 from long range. He also set career-highs with six rebounds and five assists in the loss.
- Phil Fayne scored 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 6-of-10 from the charity stripe.
- Rey Idowu scored six points, two off of his career-best, while pulling down three rebounds.
Stat of the Game
Illinois State made 18-of-23 free throws in the game for a 78.3 percent from the charity stripe. It is ISU's third straight game shooting above 75 percent on its free attempts.
What's Next
Illinois State returns to action at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, when the Redbirds host the Ole Miss on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
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