NORMAL, Ill. – Trailing by as many as 20 points in the first half, the Illinois State Redbirds put together a rally for the ages, out-scoring Bradley by 23 points in the second half to pick up a 74-65 win over the Braves at Redbird Arena.
The 20-point comeback was the second-largest deficit overcame in a win in program history, as only the 21-point deficit in a win at Butler on November 27, 1989 was larger. It is also the eighth-largest comeback in a game in MVC history.
Antonio Reeves scored a game-high 24 points, as the guard now has 889 points, and climbed three spots in the school's career scoring list, passing John Swart (1959-62), Wardell Vaughn (1961-64), and Maurice Trotter (1994-96), and currently sit 14 points away from 57th place in the record books. Josiah Strong added 14 points to go with a team-high four assists, while Kendall Lewis and Howard Fleming Jr. each scored 11, as Fleming's represented a new career-high. Sy Chatman was just off the double-figure pace with nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.
The Redbirds, now at 9-8 on the season and 2-2 in MVC play, take to the road to battle against the Missouri State Bears on Wednesday, January 19, in a 7 p.m. tip-off at JQH Arena.
ISU came out blazing hot, scoring the first five points of the game, before Bradley put up runs of 8-0 and 7-0 to push ahead by nine. A Bradley 10-0 run, on the back of two consecutive Terry Roberts three-pointers, put the visitors ahead by 20 points at 35-15 with 6:24 to play in the contest. The 'Birds started chipping away at the deficit and took some momentum into the locker room by closing the gap to 14.
The Redbirds scored the first six points of the second half to close the gap to single digits, and kept pushing, using an 11-0 run in the middle of the half to turn a one-point deficit into an eight-point advantage at 57-49. After falling behind by 20, the Illinois State ran off a streak of 42-14 between the two halves.
Illinois State's lead grew to as many as 10 points in the game, as it settled at nine at the final buzzer.
ISU committed a season-low eight turnovers in the win, and made 43.9 percent of its shots in the win (25-of-57), and made 8-of-20 (40%) from beyond the arc.
Bradley was led by Terry Roberts who scored 22 points, while Rienk Mast scored 17 points with 10 rebounds for the double-double.
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