NORMAL, Ill. – A second half in which Illinois State made just 29 percent of its shots, and none of its 11 three-point tries overshadowed 18 points from Josiah Strong, a career-high scoring night from Ryan Schmitt, and a historical career milestone for Antonio Reeves.
Strong scored 18 points and pulled down six rebounds, while Liam McChesney scored 12 points with a game-high eight rebounds. Schmitt set a new career-high with 10 points, while pulling down four boards. Mark Freeman just missed the double-figure plateau with nine points, while Reeves and Kendall Lewis each scored eight points.
Reeves' third point of the game, on a dunk, was the 1,000th of his career as he became the 46th member of Illinois State's 1,000-point club. Reeves also dished out a career-high-tying five assists, as the 'Birds had 13 assists on the day.
ISU will remain at home for the second of two straight home games, as the squad hosts the Valparaiso Beacons on Wednesday, February 9 with a 7 p.m. tip-off at Redbird Arena.
The Redbirds and Salukis went back-and-forth early, as the Redbirds led by as many as four and Southern Illinois as many as six, while there were four ties and four lead changes through the first 15 minutes of game play. The final tie came on a McChesney three-pointer with 1:49 to play in the half before the Salukis closed the half on a 5-2 run to take a three-point, 41-38 lead into the locker room at the break.
Illinois State and Southern Illinois traded baskets through the first six minutes of the second half, and ISU closed the gap to two at 47-45 before the visitors ran off six straight points to lead by eight. The lead ballooned to as many as 11 with 8:52 to play in the game before ISU ran off nine straight points over the next two minutes to close the gap to two at 62-60. SIU countered with an 8-0 run, and the Redbirds would get no closer than six the rest of the way in the 75-69 loss.
The Redbirds out-rebounded Southern Illinois 34-to-23 in the game, as Kendall Lewis added seven rebounds in the loss. ISU made just 42 percent of its shots for the game (22-of-53), 6-of-20 (30%) from long range, and 83 percent (19-of-23) from the charity stripe. Southern Illinois was 27-of-52 shooting in the game (51.9%) and made 8-of-18 shots from long range.
The Salukis got a career-high 31 points from guard Lance Jones, who was 10-of-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc, while Marcus Domask scored 18 and Ben Coupet Jr. a dozen points.
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