CARBONDALE, Ill. – Trailing by five at the halftime break, Ty Pence scored 15 points in the second half, and ISU out-scored SIU 45-33 after halftime, turning the tables in a 75-68 win in Carbondale on Thursday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams went back and forth over the first 20 minutes of play, with the largest lead by either team coming at seven points when the Salukis jumped ahead with just over a minute to play, before ISU closed the gap to five heading into the locker room at halftime.
Trailing by eight early in the second half, the Redbirds ran off nine consecutive points – seven by Ty Pence – to put ISU back ahead for the first time since the early moments of the contest. The Birds kept pushing, extending their advantage to as many as 11 with 6:01 to play in the game, before the host Salukis started their climb back. Despite cutting the gap to as few as five late in the contest, SIU could not overcome the full margin in the Redbird win.
KEY STATISTICS / NOTES
- 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 seventh game with this lineup, and this group is now 5-2 on the season
- ISU wore its throwback red uniforms for the fourth time this season
- Illinois State won the opening tip
- The Redbirds are 6-2 when winning the tip this season
- ISU's first points of the game came from Boden Skunberg on a three-pointer with 18:07 on the first-half clock
- Illinois State's first sub was Brandon Lieb with 16:16 to play in the first half
- Southern Illinois led 35-30 at halftime
- ISU's win was the second time this season that the team has won after trailing at halftime (now 2-2 on the season when trailing at the break)
- ISU's win snapped a five-game SIU win streak in games played in Carbondale
- The Redbirds made 64 percent of their shots in the second half, out-scoring SIU 45-33 in the second period
- Ty Pence poured in a career-high 22 points in the contest, his second consecutive game with 20+ points, his sixth game this season scoring in double-digits, and the 18th of his ISU career
- Chase Walker scored 15 points, as he reached double-digit scoring for the third consecutive game, for the seventh time this season, and for the 34th time in his career
- Walker also led ISU with five assists, and pulled down seven rebounds, second-most for the Birds
- Boden Skunberg reached the double-figure scoring plateau with 10 points, while adding six rebounds and three assists
- Landon Wolf set a season-high with nine points, while his eight rebounds were a team-high
NEXT UP
ISU returns home on Sunday, December 21 with a 4 p.m. tip-off against the Indiana State Sycamores.
