NORMAL, Ill. – Outscoring Belmont 43-34 in the second half, the Illinois State men's basketball team picked up an 81-74 win in the 2025-26 regular season finale, and in all probability (pending the release of the NCAA Net Rankings on Monday morning) secured the third seed in the upcoming MVC Tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bruins came out on fire in the game, making six of their first nine shots, jumping out to a 14-8 lead with 14:43 to play in the first half. The Bruins extended their first half advantage to as many as 11 points, however, the Redbirds started chipping away at the deficit, closing to within one behind a 10-0 run, closed by a Jack Daugherty three-pointer with 2:55 to play in the half. A Ty Pence three-pointer tied the game at 35-35 with 2:11 on the clock, before the Bruins scored five straight. A Johnny Kinziger three-pointer closed the scoring in the first half and cut the deficit to two at 40-38 heading into the locker room at halftime.
The visiting Bruins extended their lead to as many as nine in the second half, at 61-52 with 10:34 remaining in the game. From there the Redbirds outscored the Bruins 29-13, including a run of 7-0 to re-secure the lead for ISU with 7:21 to play in the game. Belmont briefly re-took the lead; however, a 19-7 run down the stretched confirmed the win for the Birds.
KEY STATISTICS / NOTES
- The Redbirds opened with the starting lineup of 3 Mason Klabo, 4 Landon Wolf, 11 Johnny Kinziger, 14 Boden Skunberg, and 35 Chase Walker
- This is ISU's fifth game with this starting lineup
- ISU wore its throwback white uniform
- Illinois State won the opening tip
- The game is the final one for ISU's four seniors: Landon Moore, Landon Wolf, Brandon Lieb, and Boden Skunberg
- ISU's first points of the game came from Chase Walker on a three-pointer with 19:33 on the first half clock
- This game was the ninth time that he has scored the Redbirds' first points, and the second time on a three-pointer
- Belmont led 40-to-38 at halftime
- ISU improves to 5-0 all-time against Belmont at home
- With the win, ISU picks up its 20th win of the season, the first time with back-to-back 20-win seasons since 2008-9 and 2009-10
- Head Coach Ryan Pedon becomes just the fifth coach in program history to have back-to-back 20-win seasons over his career
- Ty Pence scored 14 points – 10 of them coming in the first half – for his 13th double-digit scoring game of the season
- Johnny Kinziger dished out a team-high six assists, his 18th game with 3+ assists, and the 19th time this season he has led the team in the category
- He added 16 points for ISU, his 22nd game scoring in double-digits this year
- His scoring total gives him 1,144 for his career, one point behind Robert "Bubbles" Hawkins for 35th place in program history
- In his final game in CEFCU Arena, Boden Skunberg scored 15 points, the 17th time this season he has reached double-digit points, and his second straight to close the regular season
- Chase Walker scored 12 points for his second consecutive double-figure scoring game since coming back from a three-game absence due to injury
- It was his 19th game this season, scoring in double-digits
- With his six points, Ty'Reek Coleman climbs to sixth in school history in single-season freshman scoring, with 315 this season
NEXT UP
ISU's next game will come on Friday, March 6 in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, and in all likelihood, the Birds will be the third seed in the tournament and will face off against the winner of Northern Iowa and Evansville at 8:30 p.m.
