ISU at
Bradley
January 21st
7:05 p.m.
Channel 25 will televise the game


The "War on 74" finally resulted in a victory for the road team for the first time in 6 years as ISU defeated Bradley 57-54 in Peoria.This was the first victory for Kevin Stallings,and the entire team, in Carver Arena.The game was close the entire way,with the games biggest lead being 8.LeRoy Watkins scored ISU's first 6 points as the Birds went quickly to their inside game.The Birds tried to use the full court press against Bradley a few times early in the game,however it lead to foul each time so they were forced to rely on their half court defence to hold Bradley at bay.ISU did a great job of keeping Bradley off of the offensive glass.The Braves were held to 1 first half offensive board and 4 for the game.Kyle Cartmill,ISU's leading scorer for the game, came in off of the bench and hit 2 big 3 pointers in the first half.ISU managed to maintain the lead for most of the first half and settled for a 33-32 half time lead.The Redbirds went to the locker room with 4 players in foul trouble(LeRoy Watkins 2,Rico Hill 2,Jamar Smiley 3,Rob Gibbons 3) and Dan Muller and Skipp Schaefbauer a combined 0-11 from the 3 point arc.

The offensive pace slowed down in the second half after both teams turned up the defensive pressure.ISU was able to utilize it's full court pressure more in the second half.They also extended their half court defence out and kept the Braves from getting into a comfortable offensive rhythm throughout most of the second half.Bradley wasn't whistled for a foul in the second half until there was 5:44 to go in the game(gotta be a record) in the middle of a 9-0 ISU run.Dan,Kyle and Skipp hit consecutive 3 pointers for the run as the Birds went from being down 45-47 to a 54-47 advantage they would not relinquish.With time running out Bradley was forced to foul quickly to put ISU in the bonus which took until there was only 18.8 seconds to go.With ISU up 2 Jamar Smiley missed the front end of the 1 and 1.The Birds fouled Eric Roberson with 12.2 seconds to go.He missed both free throws and Bradley then fouled Dan Muller with 10 seconds to go.Dan made the first shot but missed the second and the Braves grabbed the rebound in the corner.They tried to quickly move the ball down the floor however the best they could do was a desperation bomb that clanged off of the back iron.Steve Hansell secured the rebound and sealed the victory.

For the game Kyle Cartmill scored 15 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.LeRoy scored 12 points and had 3 rebounds.Rico Hill had 14 points and a team high 6 rebounds.Jamar Smiley had 8 assists and Dan Muller had 8 points,4 rebounds and 4 assists.Dan also played the defensive game of his career.Rob Dye and Bayo Akinkunle,Bradley 2 leading scorers didn't make a basket when Dan was guarding them.

ILLINOIS ST (57)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Hill            22  7-12   0-1   1-6  1  4   14
Muller          38  2-11   3-4   2-4  4  2    8
Watkins         23  6-11   0-0   0-3  0  4   12
Schaefbauer     33   1-7   0-0   0-0  0  1    3
Smiley          28   2-8   1-3   1-5  8  4    5
Hansell         21   0-1   0-0   1-3  3  2    0
Pierson          1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Cartmill        24   5-8   2-2   1-5  2  2   15
Gibbons         10   0-1   0-0   1-2  0  3    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-59  6-10  7-28 18 22   57
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.390, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals: 5-19, .263 (Hill 0-1, Muller 1-6, Schaefbauer 1-6, Smiley 0-2, Cartmill 3-4). Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 1 (Watkins). Turnovers: 9 (Smiley 3, Hill 2, Hansell, Muller, Schaefbauer, Watkins). Steals: 8 (Cartmill 3, Watkins 2, Gibbons, Schaefbauer, Smiley).

BRADLEY (54) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Schairer 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Cage 26 2-5 0-0 0-3 0 3 4 Akinkunle 34 6-15 7-9 2-8 3 1 19 Dye 38 2-7 2-4 0-8 3 3 7 Roberson 36 4-8 0-2 0-4 6 4 8 Robinson 4 0-0 0-1 0-2 0 0 0 Koita 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Collins 13 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 0 2 Atkins 18 3-3 3-4 0-0 0 3 9 Moran 21 1-1 3-4 0-1 3 1 5 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 19-42 15-24 2-27 16 16 54 _______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.452, FT-.625. 3-Point Goals: 1-6, .167 (Schairer 0-1, Dye 1-4, Roberson 0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 4 (Akinkunle 4). Turnovers: 13 (Akinkunle 3, Dye 3, Moran 3, Roberson 2, Atkins, Cage). Steals: 5 (Akinkunle, Atkins, Cage, Dye, Roberson). __________________________________ Illinois St 33 24 - 57 Bradley 32 22 - 54 __________________________________ Technical fouls: None. Attendance: 10,978. Officials: Nick Petro, Paul Janssen, Steve Olson.