LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Illinois State Redbirds closed out their west coast road swing with a 1-1 record on Sunday afternoon, topping Long Beach State 82-80 to even ISU's record to 2-2 on the season following an 82-80 win inside Walter Pyramid.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Beach shot it well out of the gate in the game, making four of its first five shots and three of four from long range; however, the hosts could not extend to a lead larger than three during the early hot stretch as the Redbirds answered with a 9-0 run to take a six-point, 17-11 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining in the opening half. Long Beach fought back using a 7-0 run to re-take the lead in its home opener at 22-21. From there ISU used a 17-7 run to stretch to a nine-point lead, cruising to the nine-point, 42-34 halftime lead.
ISU extended the lead to double-digits on a three-point play from Johnny Kinziger with 15:09 to play in the game, and the Redbird advantage fluctuated between single and double digits for the first 10 minutes of the second half until the hosts ran off eight straight points to close the gap to two at 57-55, and eventually knotted the score at 70. Tied at 72, ISU scored six in a row to stretch out to a 78-72 lead, holding on late for the two-point win.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Redbirds opened with the starting lineup of 10 Ty'Reek Coleman, 11 Johnny Kinziger, 14 Boden Skunberg, 22 Ty Pence, and 35 Chase Walker
- This is ISU's second game with this lineup
- ISU won its gray uniforms for the first time this season, and are 5-2 all-time in the uniform
- Illinois State won the opening tip
- ISU's first points of the game came from Boden Skunberg on a jump shot with 19:35 on the first-half clock
- Illinois State's first subs were Landon Wolf and Mason Klabo with 15:38 to play in the first half
- The Redbirds are now 2-0 this season in the first year of official coaches challenges
- Illinois State led 42-34 at halftime
- Freshman Ty'Reek Coleman reached the double-figure scoring plateau for the third time in his last three games
- He scored 19 points against The Beach, and has 59 points over his last three games
- Coleman has tied his career-high with two assists
- Chase Walker hit the double-figure point plateau for the second time this season with a season-high 19 points
- He has now scored in double-figures 29 times over his career
- He was 13-of-14 from the free throw line in the game
- The 13 free throw makes are tied for the sixth-most makes in the NCAA this season coming into the game
- His free throw total is also tied for the sixth-most free throw makes by a Redbird junior in program history
- Johnny Kinziger reached double-figure scoring for the fourth time in four games
- He scored 15 against LBSU for his 47th double-figure scoring game of his Redbird career
- Ty Pence dished out a career-high four assists
- ISU's 31 made free throws are tied for the 23rd-most in a game in program history, and 16th-most in a game in the NCAA this season
NEXT UP
After the two-game west coast road swing, the Redbirds return home for a pair of games, the first on Thursday, November 20 against Rockford in a 7 p.m. tip-off.
