NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State senior Zach Copeland had his second consecutive strong game with 17 points; however, the Redbirds made just 19-of-51 shots from the field, falling to the Loyola Ramblers by a 62-50 final score.
How it Happened
Illinois State struck first with the first of five three-pointers from Copeland, and the Redbirds held Loyola off the scoreboard for nearly four minutes to start the game. The Redbird lead grew to as many as four points at 24-20 with 4:23 to play in the opening half before the ISU offense went cold and couldn't score again over the remainder of the first period while the Ramblers scored the final eight points to take a 28-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Loyola scored the first six points of the second half to push the lead to 10 five minutes into the second half before Copeland drained a three-pointer in two of the next three possessions to quickly close the gap back to four. Trailing by four with 12:38 to play in the game, Loyola went on a 10-3 run to stretch the margin to 11. A quick 5-0 run on a Keith Fisher III lay-up and a Dedric Boyd three-pointer dropped the margin to six, but Illinois State would come no closer in the 12-point loss.
Key Moment
Loyola's 14-point run to close out the first half and open the second half turned a four-point Illinois State lead into a 10-point Rambler advantage, and the visitors didn't trail again in the contest.
Inside the Box Score
- Coming off a 32-point effort against Drake in which he made eight three-pointers, Copeland added 17 points, making 5-of-10 shots from long range.
- Boyd scored 15 points in the loss, making half of his 12 shots from the field and 3-of-8 from beyond the arc.
- Boyd had his first start of his Redbird career in the game and reached double-figures in the scoring column for the first time since Nov. 25.
- Jaycee Hillsman scored eight points with four rebounds and three assists.
- Illinois State out-rebounded Loyola 31-to-28 in the game.
- The game was just the third this season in which the opponent's bench out-scored Illinois State's.
- Fisher and Abdou Ndiaye each pulled down five rebounds to tie for the team lead, while Ricky Torres dished out a game-high four assists.
Stat of the Game
In his two games during the week, Copeland averaged 24.5 points while going 13-of-22 from beyond the arc in the two games.
What's Next
Illinois State travels to Peoria on Wednesday evening to face off against the Bradley Braves in a 7 p.m. tip-off.
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