EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Illinois State Redbirds struggled from the field, falling on the road at Evansville on Wednesday evening by a 69-51 final score.
Malachi Poindexter scored a team-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and was 2-of-4 from deep. Chase Walker scored nine points, as Landon Wolf, Johnny Kinziger, and Jack Daugherty each scored seven.
Jordan Davis pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, as Wolf grabbed six and Daugherty five, while four different players – Dalton Banks, Kinziger, Walker, and Caden Boser each had two assists.
The Redbirds, now 10-6 on the season and 2-3 in the MVC, returns to CEFCU Arena on Saturday, January 11, when ISU hosts the Northern Iowa Panthers in a 6 p.m. tip-off.
Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net over the opening portions of the game, as Evansville struck first 4:18 into the contest, with the Redbirds countering 16 seconds later. A back-and-forth ensued, with ISU taking a two-point lead with 11:38 to play on a lay-up and three-pointer from Daugherty and a free throw from Boser. Evansville scored the next four points to push ahead by two, as the hosts would not trail again in the game. ISU, down by as many as eight in the opening period, cut the gap to four on a Kinziger three-pointer heading into the locker room at halftime.
The teams traded three-pointers early in the second half, before the hosts ran off 10 straight points to push the margin to four, and ISU was unable to cut the cap to single-digits the rest of the way.
The Redbirds converted on just 18-of-52 shot attempts for a percentage of 34.6, the second-lowest of the season, while making 9-of-31 from long range (29.0%) and just half of their 12 free throw attempts. Evansville made half of their 52 shot attempts, and a third of their 24 three-point attempts in the game.
Evansville was led by reigning MVC Player of the Week Tayshwan Comer who scored 19 points with a game-high five assists. Tanner Cuff and Cameron Haffner each scored 14 points, while Joshua Hughes scored 10.
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 13th time this season ISU has used this starting lineup, and ISU is now 9-3 when using that lineup
- The Aces won the opening tip
- The first points of the game came from Chase Walker on a lay-up with 15:26 to play in the first half
- It was the sixth time he scored ISU's first points of the game this season, the most on the team
- The first subs for Illinois State were Jack Daugherty, Malachi Poindexter, and Caden Boser with 13:07 to play in the first half
- Evansville led 34-30 at the half
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Jack Daugherty
- Pulled down a career-high 5 rebounds
- Malachi Poindexter
- Scored in double-figures for the fourth time this season and 31st time in his career
- His six field goal makes are a season-high
- Landon Wolf
- Tied a career-high with six rebounds
- His two steals tied a season-high
- Jordan Davis
- Pulled down seven rebounds, the second consecutive game with seven or more rebounds
- His two made three-pointers tied the season-high that he set against Southern Illinois
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