ISU vs
Bradley
February 4th
7:05 p.m.
Channel 31 will televise the game


Things didn't look good for ISU during the first 13 minutes of the second half as Bradley dominated the game, however after a spirited time out with 7 minutes to go Rico Hill and Jamar Smiley took control and brought the Birds back to life and a 76-70 victory before a sell out crowd at Redbird Arena.

ISU controlled the pace and play of the game during the first half.Bradley was able to hang in the game on the hot first half shooting of Rob Dye who made 5 of 6 shots from 3 point territory.Dan Muller,Rico Hill,and Steve Hansell helped the Birds stay on top during the first half with some excellent offensive play.Hansell came off the bench to score 8 in the first half.ISU took a 34-33 lead into the locker room.

The second half started,and looked to stay,ugly for ISU as Bradley jumped out to an 8 point lead.The Redbirds were not effective at the offensive end as they often played hot potatoe with the ball outside the 3 point arc and never really looked to get the ball inside.Their defense was non-existent and their ball handling was worse at times as they committed some unforced errors.An explitive laced speech during a time out finally brought Rico to life.He had been invisible during most of the second half scoring only 2 points.He came out and scored 4 straight points for the Redbirds and seemed to bring the team back to life however 2 unforced errors by Jamar Smiley kept the Birds from regaining the lead.The last turnover,a double dribble bringing the ball up the court with nobody within 5 feet of him, seemed like to break ISU's momentum however it turned out to be the start of things.After a time out during which Jamar decided to get his head in the game the Redbird dominated the rest of the game.ISU ran a set play out of the time out to Dan Muller who nailed a 3 pointer with 3:34 to go.ISU then forced 5 Bradley turnovers and outscored the Braves 14-6 down the stretch.Jamar scored 12(his total for the game ) of those 14 points and recorded an assist on the other 2,a Steve Hansell fade away in the lane.Jamar scored 9 straight points before the Hansell shot and grabbed 2 steals.

Rico Hill lead ISU with 17 points and 3 steals.Dan Muller lead the Birds on the boards with 5 while scoring14 points.Jamar finished with 12 points and a team high 6 assists.Steve Hansell scored 10 to go along with 4 rebounds and 2 assists and 2 steals.Rob Gibbons also played well off the bench scoring 9 points.

BRADLEY (70)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Cage            36   2-7   2-2   0-5  3  2    6
Moran           16   0-1   0-0   1-4  1  2    0
Akinkunle       34  8-13 11-17   3-8  1  2   27
Roberson        31   3-7   0-0   1-8  5  3    6
Dye             33   7-9   0-0   0-4  0  2   20
Lee              9   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  2    2
Atkins          23   3-8   0-0   1-1  2  3    7
Robinson         8   0-1   0-0   0-0  1  1    0
Schairer        10   0-1   2-2   0-2  0  1    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-48 15-21  6-32 13 18   70
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals: 7-12, .583 (Roberson 0-1, Dye 6-8, Atkins 1-2, Schairer 0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 3 (Akinkunle 2, Moran). Turnovers: 21 (Roberson 6, Dye 5, Atkins 4, Akinkunle 3, Schairer 3). Steals: 4 (Roberson 3, Dye).

ILLINOIS ST (76) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Hill 33 8-17 0-0 1-4 2 3 17 Muller 37 4-10 2-4 4-5 3 2 14 Watkins 12 2-8 0-0 1-3 0 5 4 Schaefbauer 31 2-6 1-2 2-3 2 4 7 Smiley 28 3-9 6-8 0-3 6 0 12 Hansell 25 4-6 2-4 4-4 2 1 10 Pierson 2 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Cartmill 21 1-5 0-0 0-2 3 1 3 vanVelzen 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Gibbons 10 4-5 1-1 0-1 0 3 9 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 28-66 12-19 12-26 18 20 76 _______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.424, FT-.632. 3-Point Goals: 8-22, .364 (Hill 1-3, Muller 4-9, Schaefbauer 2-4, Smiley 0-3, Cartmill 1-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 2 (Watkins, Hansell). Turnovers: 12 (Smiley 5, Watkins 2, Gibbons, Hansell, Hill, Muller, Schaefbauer). Steals: 9 (Hill 3, Hansell 2, Cartmill, Muller, Smiley, Watkins). __________________________________ Bradley 33 37 - 70 Illinois St 34 42 - 76 __________________________________ Technical fouls: None. Attendance: 10,259. Officials: Tim Hutchinson, Paul Kaster, Ron Berkholtz.