NORMAL, Ill. – Despite a near-career-night from Redbird senior Kendall Lewis, the Illinois State men's basketball team dropped its opening game of the 2022-23 season at home to the Western Illinois Leathernecks on Monday evening by a 71-68 final score inside CEFCU Arena – Home of the Redbirds.
Lewis scored 22 points – two off his career-high – while pulling down a career-high-tying 14 rebounds. He made 7-of-13 shots from the field and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Malachi Poindexter (14) and Luke Kasubke (10) recorded career-high scoring efforts in their first official game in a Redbird uniform. Joe Petrakis scored eight points off the bench, with Seneca Knight and Darius Burford each scoring seven points in the loss.
The Redbirds out-rebounded WIU 46-to-30 in the contest and made 21-of-56 shots from the field (37.5%) and 21-of-25 free throws (84.0%).
Both the Redbirds and Leathernecks struggled to find the bottom of the basket in the early stages of the game, with WIU holding a 16-11 lead 12:27 into the game. The Illinois State offense found its footing during the last seven and a half minutes of the period, out-scoring WIU 29-17 down the stretch, including a half-court heave at the halftime buzzer by Burford to send ISU into the locker room with a seven-point, 40-33 lead.
The start to the second half saw ISU score the first six points, three each from Lewis and Poindexter, to lead by 13 at 18:42 to play in the game. The Redbird momentum was halted, as the visitors ran off a 19-4 run to re-take their early lead at 52-50 with 11:53 to play in the game.
Over the last dozen minutes, the largest lead gained by either team would be four points, as the teams battled back and forth. The last Redbird lead came with 1:16 to play when a Kendall Lewis driving lay-up put the 'Birds ahead by two at 68-66; however, Western Illinois scored the final five points of the game to clinch the narrow three-point win.
The Leathernecks were led by Alec Rosner who scored a game-high 25 points while Trenton Massner had 12 points, 10 rebounds, and a game-high 11 assists.
Illinois State has a short turnaround to its Thursday evening contest at Eastern Illinois, as the Panthers and Redbirds meet up in Charleston for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
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