The Birds got off to a good start in the game as Kyle Cartmill hit on his first three 3 point attempts and Dan Muller hit his first.The Redbirds raced out to a 16-9 lead in the first 8 minutes and it looked as if they would coast to an easy victory.However they could only manage 8 points over the remainder of the half.They missed 19 of their last 24 shots of the half.Rico and Jamar sat out the first 9:01 of the game.Both were ineffective in the first half as Rico went 1 for 7 and Jamar picked up 3 quick fouls.Jamar injured his tailbone while commiting his third foul and only played 3 minutes the rest of the way and 11 overall.Evansville outscored the Birds 29-8 during the last 12 minutes of the half and took a 14 point lead,38-24, into the locker room.ISU shot only 31% in the first half.

The Purple Aces scored the first 2 points of the second half for their largest lead of the game at 16 but that was as far as it would go.The Redbirds controlled the rest of the game behind the strong play of Dan Muller,Rico Hill and LeRoy Watkins.The Birds got the defecit under double digits with 17:06 left to go in regulation on a Rico Hill bucket that capped off a Redbird 7-0 run.Evansville stretched it back up to 11,but a 3 by Rico quickly knocked their lead back down to 8.The Birds finally tied the game at 57-57 with 6:10 to go on another 3 by Rico then gained their first lead of the second half at 67-64 on a traditional 3 point play by Watkins.Evansville's Marcus Wilson hit a pair of free throws to make it 67-66 with 0.45 to go then Rico scored on a short jumper to boost ISU's lead up to 3 at 69-66 with 15 seconds to go.Unfortunatly Wilson nailed a 21 foot 3 with Dan Muller's hand in his face with 6 seconds to go to tie the game and send it into overtime.

The teams traded 2 pointers to start the overtime period.Then Rico nailed a three which was quickly followed by Evansville's Jeremy Stanton hitting a three of his own.Evansville split a pair of free throws to take a 75-74 lead but Watkins countered by making both free throws after being fouled to put ISU up for good 76-75.Muller made a 2 pointer for a 78-75 cushion followed by another split pair of charity tosses for Evansville.Dan Muller was fouled with 30 seconds to go and made both free throws for the final 80-76 score.

Rico Hill led the Birds with 26 points,24 in the second half on 11-22 shooting.He was 4-8 from 3 point territory.He also had 5 rebounds, 3 assists,2 steals and a blocked shot.Dan Muller scored 15 points while playing 41 minutes.He also grabbed 7 rebounds,4 assists and 2 steals all of which were team highs.(and Peopia sports writers seem to think he's the most over-rated player in the Valley?what losers!)LeRoy Watkins scored 14 and grabbed 6 boards and was 5-6 from the free throw line.Kyle Cartmill added 14 points and tied Dan and Steve Hansell for a team high with 4 assists.Skipp Schaefbauer scored 6,grabbed 3 rebounds and handed out 3 assists.

ILLINOIS ST (80)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Hansell         18   0-3   0-0   0-1  4  5    0
Muller          41  6-13   2-2   2-7  4  4   15
Watkins         29   4-6   6-7   2-6  1  4   14
Schaefbauer     25   2-9   0-0   0-3  3  3    6
Cartmill        40   5-7   0-0   1-1  4  1   14
Smiley          11   0-1   0-0   0-1  1  3    0
Pierson         10   1-1   0-0   1-1  0  1    2
Gibbons         17   1-2   1-2   0-3  0  1    3
Hill            34 11-22   0-0   2-5  3  1   26
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TOTALS         225 30-64  9-11  8-28 20 23   80
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