NASHVILLE – In a game that was adjusted ahead by 26 hours due to an arriving winter storm, the Illinois State men's basketball team fell in Nashville against the Belmont Bruins by an 80-69 final score on Saturday early afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
ISU got on the scoreboard first in the game with lay-up from Ty'Reek Coleman; however, the host Bruins rattled off the next 10 points to push ahead to an eight-point lead three and a half minutes into the contest. The margin buoyed between seven and 14 points the rest of the way, as the Birds used a 7-2 run over the final three minutes to close the gap to eight at the halftime break.
The Redbirds came out firing to start the second half, outscoring the Bruins 12-3 through the first four minutes of the final frame to surge back in front by a 48-47 score with 15:54 to play in the game. ISU led by as many as four in the second half and led by two with 12:19 to play before the hosts ran off a 19-3 run to stretch out to a 14-point, 75-61 lead, as the hosts held on for the 13-point victory.
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 16th game with this lineup, and 11th consecutive game, and this group is 10-6 this season
- ISU wore its throwback red uniform for the eighth time this season
- Illinois State won the opening tip
- ISU's first points of the game came from Ty'Reek Coleman on a lay-up with 19:30 on the first half clock
- He has scored the Redbirds' first points of the game three times this season
- Belmont led 44-36 at halftime
- Each school remains undefeated at home in the series between the two schools,
- Ty Pence scored 12 points in the game, nine of those coming in the second half
- The double-figure scoring game was his ninth of the season and 21st of his career
- Johnny Kinziger reached double-figure scoring for the 15th time this season and 59th time of his career, scoring 13 points
- With his point total, he climbed two places into 44th in career scoring in ISU history, as his 1,031 career points passed Joe Galvin (45th, 1,022) and Gregg alexander (44th, 1023)
- Chase Walker scored 12 points while pulling down a game-high eight rebounds
- His two blocked shots tied a career-high
- Boden Skunberg scored 10 points, while adding two assists, as he has scored 65 points over his last four games
- Scoring 10 points in the game, Ty'Reek Coleman moved into the top-25 in school history in scoring by a freshman, as he now has 210 in his inaugural ISU season
- His three steals in the game are a career-high
- Illinois State out-rebounded the Bruins 36-to-27
NEXT UP
ISU is back on the road on Wednesday, January 28 as the team travels to Murray, Kentucky, to take on the Murray State Racers for an 8 p.m. tip-off inside the CFSB Center.
