EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Illinois State Redbirds got 18 points from Darius Burford and 12 from Myles Foster; however, ISU made just 1-of-21 shots from beyond the arc, setting the stage for the 58-54 Redbird loss to Evansville on Saturday afternoon.
Burford made 7-of-16 shots from the field for the game, while Foster was 6-of-8 shooting for his 12 points. Johnny Kinziger – for the second consecutive game – scored in double-figures with 10 points, hitting half of his six shots. Chase Walker scored eight points off the bench for ISU, making all eight of his free throw tries, tied for the third-best single-game free throw shooting game by a freshman in program history.
Kendall Lewis pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, his second double-figure rebounding game of the season, as ISU out-rebounded Evansville 33-to-32.
Illinois State (10-11, 4-6 MVC) turns around and faces off against Murray State on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. in Murray, Kentucky.
The Redbirds started strong, scoring 10 of the first 12 points of the game, leading by eight at 10-2 through the first seven minutes of the contest. Evansville fought back, using runs of 8-0 and 6-0 to chip away at the deficit, and eventually taking a lead in the contest at 16-14 with 5:25 to play in the opening period. ISU re-captured the advantage with just under three minutes to play in the half before the hosts ran off the final seven points of the opening period, taking a 27-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Evansville came out firing to open the second half, extending to a 13-point, 35-22 lead. The Redbirds would not back down, and fought back with runs of 4-0 and 6-0, eventually climbing back within two points; however, ISU could not overcome the full deficit, falling 58-54.
Yacine Toumi scored a team-best 17 points with six rebounds for the Aces, while Joshua Hughes scored 11 and Tanner Cuff 10.
TEAM TOTALS
- Illinois State used a starting lineup of 0 Luke Kasubke, 3 Dalton Banks, 4 Myles Foster, 10 Darius Burford, and 22 Kendall Lewis
- This is the first time this season that this lineup has been used
- ISU has used eight different starting lineups this season, which is tied for the 14th-most different starting lineups in the country this season
- Evansville won the opening tip
- The first Illinois State points of the game came from Myles Foster with a lay-in with 18:55 to play in the opening half
- Foster has scored the first points of the game seven times for the Redbirds this season
- The first sub for Illinois State was Malachi Poindexter with 13:18 to play in the first half
- Evansville led 27-21 at halftime
- Illinois State out-rebounded Evansville 33-to-32
- The Redbirds have out-rebounded 14-of-21 opponents this season
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Luke Kasubke
- The start was his sixth this season and 18th of his career
- Dalton Banks
- Has started all 21 games for the Redbirds this season, and 36 games during his career
- Myles Foster
- Has started 20 of the team's 21 games this season, and has 54 career starts in 107 games played
- Scored in double-figures for the third straight game, the 12th time this season and 39th time in his career
- Darius Burford
- Started his 18th game of the season, and 88th game of his collegiate career
- Reached double-figure scoring for the fourth straight game, the 14th time this season, and 64th time in his career
- Johnny Kinziger
- Reached double-figure scoring for the second consecutive game, and the sixth time in his Redbird career
- Kendall Lewis
- Started his 15th game of the season, and 99th of his collegiate career
- Pulled down double-digit rebounds for the second time this season and 15th time in his career
- Chase Walker
- Scored a career-high eight points, making 8-of-8 from the charity stripe
- The 8-of-8 game at the free throw line is tied for the third-best single-game free throw percentage by a freshman in program history
- Randy Smithson's 10-of-10 game against Quincy on 1/18/78 and Tarise Bryson's 9-of-9 game against Missouri State on 1/5/1999 are the only perfect free throw game with more makes
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