NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State had six players score at least nine points for the Redbirds, and two players had double-digit rebounds, as ISU held on for a 69-61 home win on Wednesday evening.
Dalton Banks and Luke Kasubke each scored 12 points for ISU, while Myles Foster and Johnny Kinziger each scored 11. Two other Redbirds – Malachi Poindexter and Kendall Lewis – each scored nine points. Lewis pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds while Foster grabbed 10 for his first Redbird double-double.
The Redbirds return to action on Monday, November 20, when the Redbirds face off against Long Beach State in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Fort Myers, Florida.
The teams traded baskets back and forth early, and the Redbirds led 7-6 five and a half minutes into the game, before the visitors ran off a 14-6 run to lead by seven at 20-13. The Redbirds immediately responded with a 10-0 run, opened by a Kinziger three-pointer and capped by a Kinziger jumper, and Illinois State would not trail again for the rest of the game. Kasubke, who made a three-pointer in the Redbirds' 10-0 run, made two more three-pointers over the final three minutes of the first half, helping ISU close the half on a 21-3 run, taking a 34-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half the Redbirds' lead grew to as many as 12 and was cut to as few as three, but ISU never gave up its advantage in an eight-point Illinois State win.
Illinois State out-rebounded Eastern Illinois 42-32, the third straight game to open the year that ISU has out-rebounded its opponent. The Redbirds made 23 of their 56 shots from the field for a percentage of 41.1, while converting on 6-of-19 from beyond the arc (31.6%) and 17-of-26 (65.4%) from the charity stripe. The Panthers were 22-of-57 from the field (38.6%), 6-of-20 from distance (30.0%), and 11-of-13 (84.6%) from the free throw line.
TEAM NOTES
- Illinois State used a starting lineup of 1 Malachi Poindexter, 3 Dalton Banks, 4 Myles Foster, 10 Darius Burford, 12 Brandon Lieb
- This is the first time this group has been in the starting lineup together.
- The starting lineup jersey total (30) is the sixth-lowest by a Redbird team since 1991-92
- The Redbirds won the opening tip
- The first points of the game came from Malachi Poindexter on a three-pointer with 18:31 to play in the first half.
- The first subs off the bench for Illinois State were Luke Kasubke and Kendall Lewis with 15:16 to play in the first half.
- Illinois State led 34-24 at halftime.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Luke Kasubke
- Scored a season-high 12 points
- Reached double-figure scoring for the first time this season and 10th time in his career.
- In two games against Eastern Illinois he has scored 28 points, making 8-of-9 three-point shots
- Dalton Banks
- For the third time in three games he reached double-figure scoring with a team-high-tying 12 points
- Myles Foster
- Scored in double-figures for the third consecutive game to open the 2023-24 season
- The double-figure scoring game was the 30th of his collegiate career.
- Recorded his first Redbird double-double with 11 points and a season-high 10 rebounds.
- Johnny Kinziger
- Scored in double-figures for the first time in his collegiate career
- Kendall Lewis
- Scored the 1,000th point of his collegiate career in the second half
- Pulled down 12 rebounds for the Redbirds, the first double-digit rebounding game of the season for ISU.
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