SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Illinois State men's basketball team got a game-high 22 points from Darius Burford, while Luke Kasubke scored 12 and Myles Foster 11 as the Redbirds snapped a six-game losing skid on the road on Saturday afternoon, topping the Missouri State Bears by a 69-60 final score.
Burford made 8-of-15 shots from the field and 5-of-8 from the charity stripe, while Kasubke made three three-point baskets for a season-high-tying 12 points. Myles Foster flirted with a double-double, scoring 11 points with a team-best nine rebounds.
The Redbirds had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio for the 10th time this season and for the third time in the last four games, while making 43.1 percent of their shots in the game (22-of-51), and 36.8 percent (7-of-19) from beyond the arc.
The Redbirds head home to battle the Belmont Bruins inside CEFCU Arena on Tuesday, January 23 with a 7 p.m. tip-off.
The Redbirds started strong with a Burford jumper, and after the hosts ran off five straight to take a three-point lead, ISU scored seven in a row, including a three-pointer from Jordan Davis and a four-point play from Kasubke. A Missouri State 6-0 run gave the hosts a two-point lead, before ISU once again answered, using a 6-0 run. The lead changed hands 10 times in the opening 20 minutes, the last coming with 5:34 to play in the first period when Johnny Kinziger drained a long three-pointer. ISU closed strong, extending the lead to nine, and headed into the locker room with a 42-33 lead at halftime.
Missouri State came out firing to start the second half, and used an 18-5 run to stretch out to a four-point lead through the first eight minutes of the second half. The Redbirds immediately responded with an 8-0 run – five of the points coming from Chase Walker, to put ISU back ahead. The back-and-forth continued, as an Alston Mason three-point basket gave the hosts their final lead of the game. Trailing by two with 6:17 to remaining in the game, ISU closed the game on a 12-1 run, including an 8-0 finishing stretch, to pull away in the nine-point MVC road win.
The Bears got 19 points from Donovan Clay – who made 11-of-13 free throws – and 18 points from Alston Mason, as N.J. Benson added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Cesare Edwards pulled down nine rebounds, while Clay had a game-high five blocked shots.
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TEAM NOTES
- This is the second time this season that this lineup has been used
- Missouri State won the opening tip
- The first Illinois State points of the game came from Darius Burford with a jumper with 19:22 to play in the opening half
- The first sub for Illinois State was Luke Kasubke with 17:37 to play in the first half
- Illinois State led 42-33 at halftime.
- The Redbirds had a 12-to-10 assist-to-turnover ratio, the 10th time this season that ISU has had a positive number in that statistic, and they have done it for the fourth time in the last five games
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Luke Kasubke
- Scored in double-figures for the fourth time this season, and 13th time in his career
- His 12 points tied a season-high
- Dalton Banks
- Has started all 19 games for the Redbirds this season, and 34 games during his career
- Led Illinois State in assists for the 13th time this season with five
- Myles Foster
- Has started 18 of the team's 19 games this season, and has 52 career starts in 105 games played
- Tied a season-high with four assists
- Scored double-figure points for the 10th time this season and 37th of his career
- Led the team in rebounding for the ninth time this season and pulled down at least eight rebounds for the 10th time
- Jordan Davis
- Started his third consecutive game, and now has 21 career starts between Illinois State and Wisconsin
- Darius Burford
- Started his 16th game of the season, and 86th game of his collegiate career
- Reached double-figure scoring for the 12th time this season and 62nd time in his career
- His three steals tied a season-high
- Scored 20+ points for the fourth time this season
- Johnny Kinziger
- His five rebounds are a new career-high for the freshman
- Kendall Lewis
- Started his 13th game of the season, and 97th of his collegiate career
- Chase Walker
- Scored a career-high six points
- Pulled down a career-high five rebounds
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