NORMAL, Ill. – Despite 27 points from Antonio Reeves and a 15-point, 14-rebound double-double from Kendall Lewis, the Illinois State Redbirds fell in an MVC contest on Tuesday evening to the Northern Iowa Panthers by a 72-70 final score.
Reeves was 10-of-18 shooting in the game, 3-of-5 from long range, and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. Lewis' 14 rebounds are a new career-high, while his four assists tied a career-high. Howard Fleming Jr. also reached double-figure scoring with 10 points in addition to five rebounds. The Redbirds out-rebounded UNI 40-to-28 in the contest.
In a game where the largest lead by either team would be seven points, the Redbirds and Panthers battled back-and-forth early, before the visitors ran off five straight points to push ahead to a six-point, 15-9 lead, before ISU used the following eight minutes to score 15 of the next 22 points to streak ahead to a three-point, 25-22 lead with 5:29 to play in the opening half. The lead traded hands six more times the rest of the half, before a Ryan Schmitt dunk sent the Redbirds into the locker room with a 33-32 halftime lead.
UNI's AJ Green caught fire to start the second half and made a trio of three-pointers over the first three and a half minutes, as the visitors stretched their lead to seven points with 16:41 to play in regulation. The Redbirds kept chipping away at the deficit and took their first lead of the second half since the very early portions of the period with a Lewis dunk with 2:39 to play in the game. The next time down the floor Lewis drained a three-pointer to re-give the Redbirds a lead. ISU's final lead came on a Reeves free throw with 1:38 to play, before UNI made 3-of-4 free throws over the final minute and a half to secure the two-point win.
Like in the first meeting between the two teams earlier this year, UNI had Noah Carter and Green each score 20+ points, as Carter scored 23 and Green 20, while Trae Berhow added 10. Berhow and Green pulled down a team-best six rebounds.
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