COLUMBUS, Ohio – Led by a quick start that saw Illinois State jump ahead 7-2 over the first two minutes of the game, the Redbirds held on late to top UMass Lowell 82-72 for ISU's first win of the 2020-21 season.
Josiah Strong scored a team-high 21 points, making 6-of-14 shots from the field, 3-of-8 from long range and all six of his free throw tries. DJ Horne scored 15 points, while Antonio Reeves added 13. In his first appearance of the season, Sy Chatman scored nine points off the bench, while Harouna Sissoko scored in eight in his first start.
Sissoko pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds, narrowly missing the double-double, while Horne, Strong, and Dedric Boyd each gave out a team-best two assists. Â Horne tied a career-high with five steals, as Abdou Ndiaye blocked a game-high two shots and didn't miss from the field on 3-of-3 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 from long range.
UMass Lowell scored first out of the gate before the Redbirds scored on their first three possessions on a Sissoko driving lay-up, a lay-up by Strong, and a three-pointer by strong, and Illinois State would not trail again in the contest. A 13-2 ISU run turned a three-point lead with 10:38 left I the first half into a 14-point lead with 5:31 left. The Illinois State lead ballooned to as high as 20 on a Chatman dunk, with ISU taking a 12-point, 42-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The second half lead grew to as many as 19 points before the River Hawks fought back and trimmed the lead to as little as four before an 8-2 Redbird run add the final push before Illinois State closed out the 82-72 win on Saturday afternoon.
The Redbirds made 31-of-67 shots from the field, a percentage of 46.3, while UMass Lowell converted on 43.1 percent of their shots (25-of-58). ISU went 8-of-27 (29.6%) from long range, while the River Hawks went 5-of-23 (21.7%). UMass Lowell was led by Obadiah Noel who scored 35 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field.
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