ISU vs
Evansville
February 10th
7:05 p.m.


ISU coach Kevin Stallings collected his 100th career victory over the pesky Purple Aces 74-67 and the team moved to 13-1 in the MVC.That start is the best ever recorded by the Birds in Valley play since joining the league.ISU stretched its home winning streak to 17 games dating back to last season.

The first half was closely contested most of the way.With the score tied at 29 all ISU's Kyle Cartmill nailed a three pointer to give the Birds the lead for good.The Redbirds enjoyed a 34-31 halftime lead.

The Redbirds opened the second half by going on a 26-13 run during the first 11 minutes to build a 62-44 lead.However Evansville wasn't finished off just yet.The Aces went on an 18-2 run to close the gap to 64-59.Kyle Cartmill hit a three with 3 seconds left on the shot clock to boost the lead to 67-59.Evansville once again made a run at the Birds closing the gap to 70-67 with 38.5 seconds left.Forced to foul Evansville sent ISU to the charity stripe where they connected on 4 of 6 free throws for the final margin of victory.

Cartmill connected on 4 of 5 three pointers for the game to score 13 points for the game while grabbing 4 rebounds to go along with 1 assist and 1 steal.Rico Hill led ISU with 19 points and 8 rebounds.Jamar Smiley tied Rico with a game high 8 rebounds while handing out 8 assists and scoring 7 points.Skipp Schaefbauer chipped in 11 points and had 4 assists and 2 rebounds.Dan Muller and LeRoy Watkins both added 8 points for the Birds.

EVANSVILLE (67)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Snow            20   1-6   0-0   0-1  2  0    3
Hollender       37  8-10   0-1   0-4  3  3   17
James           25   3-7   5-7   4-8  1  2   11
Wilson          40 10-16   2-3   0-7  0  2   28
Stanton         33   1-2   4-6   0-2  5  3    6
J Robinson      11   0-3   0-0   0-0  1  3    0
Begle           14   0-3   0-0   1-1  1  3    0
Runyan          20   1-5   0-0   1-1  0  0    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-52 11-17  6-24 13 16   67
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.462, FT-.647. 3-Point Goals: 8-21, .381 (Snow 1-5, Hollender 1-1, Wilson 6-9, J Robinson 0-2, Begle 0-2, Runyan 0-2). Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 1 (James). Turnovers: 18 (Stanton 4, James 3, Wilson 3, Begle 2, Hollender 2, Runyan 2, J Robinson, Snow). Steals: 8 (Stanton 4, Wilson 2, Begle, J Robinson).

ILLINOIS ST (74) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Hill 33 7-15 3-4 1-8 1 3 19 Muller 32 3-7 1-2 1-3 3 3 8 Watkins 23 4-6 0-0 0-1 1 1 8 Schaefbauer 30 3-10 2-2 0-2 4 2 11 Smiley 32 3-7 1-2 1-8 8 3 7 Hansell 18 0-2 4-4 0-1 2 0 4 Pierson 6 1-2 0-0 1-1 0 0 2 Cartmill 20 4-5 1-2 0-4 1 2 13 Gibbons 6 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 3 2 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 26-55 12-16 5-29 20 17 74 _______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.473, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals: 10-24, .417 (Hill 2-4, Muller 1-3, Schaefbauer 3-10, Hansell 0-2, Cartmill 4-5). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 3 (Muller, Watkins, Pierson). Turnovers: 12 (Smiley 5, Hill 2, Cartmill, Hansell, Muller, Schaefbauer, Watkins). Steals: 10 (Hansell 2, Hill 2, Smiley 2, Watkins 2, Cartmill, Muller). __________________________________ Evansville 31 36 - 67 Illinois St 34 40 - 74 __________________________________ Technical fouls: None. Attendance: 8,238. Officials: Mike Sanzere, Jerry Seibert, Sam Banks.