NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State Redbirds opened the game on a 15-3 run and never looked back, before holding off the feisty Saint Louis Billiken squad late in an 81-77 ISU win in which the hosts did not trail at any point in the contest.
Chase Walker recorded his third career-high scoring game in his last four contests by scoring 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 from long range, and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe. Johnny Kinziger scored 20 points – his third game of 20+ points this season – while pulling down six rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists. Dalton Banks and Ty Pence each scored eight points for the Redbirds, while Landon Wolf added seven in the winning effort.
Walker pulled down eight rebounds to lead the team, including a game-high four on the offensive end, while Kinziger picked up six for ISU, as the Redbirds were narrowly out-rebounded 30-to-28 in the game. Banks' four assists were a team-high, as he had a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Banks also led the team with a career-high three blocked shots – each of which came in the first three and a half minutes of the game.
The Redbirds close their three-game homestand on Wednesday when ISU hosts the Northern Illinois Huskies on Wednesday, December 18 in a 7 p.m. tip-off inside CEFCU Arena.
ISU came out firing to start the game, getting lay-ups from Kinziger and Walker to jump to a 4-0 lead, one that the team would not give up for the remainder of the game. After a Gibson Jimerson three-pointer a minute and a half into the game, the Redbirds ran off 11 consecutive points, and holding the Billikens without a field goal for over eight minutes of game-play time ISU saw its lead stretched to 17 points. The margin reached its pinnacle at 22, the last time with 5:53 to play in the first half, before Saint Louis started to claw their way back, closing the gap to a dozen at 43-31 heading into the locker room at halftime.
The visiting Billikens chipped away at the deficit, as ISU led by as many as 12 with 10:40 to play; however, the margin for the majority of the final 20 minutes was single digits. SLU got as close as two with 36 seconds to play in the game; however, Kinziger and Banks iced the game over the final 15 seconds as each hit two free throws to secure the four-point victory.
ISU made over half of their shots (29-of-55 for 52.7 percent) for the fifth time this season and converted on 8-of-17 (47.1%) from beyond the arc and 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) from the charity stripe. Saint Louis made 48.1 percent (26-of-54) of their field goal attempts, went 12-of-31 (38.7%) from beyond the arc, and 13-of-14 (92.9%) on its free throw attempts.
Robbie Avila scored a game-high 28 points, while Isaiah Swope scored 22 and Jimerson added 15 while playing all 40 minutes in the game.
TEAM NOTES
- Illinois State used a starting lineup of 3 Dalton Banks, 4 Landon Wolf, 11 Johnny Kinziger, 22 Ty Pence, and 35 Chase Walker
- It was the ninth straight game the Redbirds have used this lineup.
- ISU is 6-3 when using this starting lineup
- The Redbirds won the opening tip
- The first points of the game came from Johnny Kinziger on a driving lay-up with 19:33 to play in the first half
- It was the fourth time he scored ISU's first points of the game this season
- The first subs off the bench for Illinois State were Caden Boser and Malachi Poindexter with 15:39 to play in the first half.
- Illinois State led 43-31 at halftime
- The game was just the second this season where the Redbirds did not trail at any point in the game (the other was Trinity Christian on November 17)
- The Redbirds committed single-digit turnovers for the fifth time in 10 games on the season
- The win was ISU's over an Atlantic 10 team since December 18, 2016 at home against St. Joseph's
- The Redbirds have won four of their last five home games against schools in the Atlantic 10 when the game was played
- ISU made over half of its shots (29-of-55 – 52.7 percent) for the fifth time in 10 games this season, and 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from long range. Those percentages pushed the Redbird season numbers to 49.6 percent on field goal tries, and 40.6 percent from long range.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Dalton Banks
- Blocked a career-high three shots in the game
- He is just the 16th player in the country this season with three or more blocked shots in a game for a player 6-2 or shorter, and is the first player in the MVC, 6-2 or shorter to reach the three-block milestone since Wes Washpun of Northern Iowa did it against Evansville on February 27, 2016
- Led the Redibrds in assists for the eighth time this season, and 30th time in his career
- Johnny Kinziger
- Scored in double-figures for the ninth time in 10 games, with nine consecutive double-digit scoring efforts
- Has scored 20+ points three times this season
- 26 Times this season a player under 6-0 tall has scored at least 20 points while taking 13 shots or less, and Kinziger has done it three times, as he, Kaden Metheny (Liberty), and Jayden Reid (South Florida) – twice each – are the only players to do it multiple times this season
- His 13 shot attempts are a new season-high
- Chase Walker
- Scored in double-figures for the ninth time this season, and eighth consecutive game
- Scored 20+ points for the second straight game
- Scored a career-high point total for the second consecutive game and the third time in his last four games
- Pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, the fifth time this season he has led ISU in rebounds, and his fourth game with 8+
- His two made three-pointers are a new career-high
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
