ISU at
Wichita St
January 15th
7:35 p.m.
Channel 31 will televise the game


ISU defeated Wichita 56-53 in real foul-a-thon.ISU charged out to a 12-6 lead and looked to be in control and on their way to a blow out.However Wichita turned up the defense and turned the game in to a physical battle that lead to 42 fouls and 45 free throws between the 2 teams.Six points was the biggest lead either team would have the rest of the way.Wichita gained the lead by the middle of first half however ISU fought back to forge a 27-27 half time tie.Jamar Smiley was instrumental in keeping the Birds in the game.LeRoy Watkins and Dan Muller both got called for 2 fouls in the first half and Rob Gibbons was called for 3.

The second half continued that trend as Dan Muller quickly recieved his 3rd and 4th fouls and Rico Hill also was whistled for 3 quick fouls to send them both to the bench early with 4 fouls.Luckily Watkins came to life and led the charge through the second half scoring all 10 of his points and grabbing 6 of his 9 boards. LeRoy made a key defensive stop in the last minute of the game as he drew a charging foul against Wichita's Maurice Evans with the Birds up 3.Earlier,with the Birds down 6 with 8:52 to go,Rico and Dan re-entered the game.ISU then went on a 10-0 run to regain the lead.Jamar and Rico hit back to back threes to tie the game then Hansell scored on a layup and Rico followed that with a dunk.Wichita didn't score a field goal in the final 9:13 however they did sink 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch to keep in the game

Rico Hill scored 17 to lead the Birds.He also grabbed 7 rebounds.Jamar Smiley had 13 points to go along with 8 assists and 2 steals.Leroy Watkins scored 10 points a grabbed a team high 9 rebounds.Dan Muller fouled out with 7 minutes to go and scored only 3 points but he did grab 5 boards.

ILLINOIS ST (56)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Hill            31  6-13   2-2   1-7  0  4   17
Muller          24   1-4   1-2   3-5  1  5    3
Watkins         24   3-9   4-8   2-9  0  4   10
Schaefbauer     33  2-11   1-2   1-2  3  1    7
Smiley          38   5-9   2-4   0-2  8  3   13
Hansell         27   1-3   2-4   1-3  0  2    4
Cartmill         9   1-1   0-0   0-2  0  0    2
Gibbons         14   0-0   0-2   1-2  1  3    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 19-50 12-24  9-32 13 22   56
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.380, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals: 6-22, .273 (Hill 3-8, Muller 0-1, Schaefbauer 2-10, Smiley 1-3). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 3 (Watkins, Hansell, Gibbons). Turnovers: 19 (Schaefbauer 4, Smiley 4, Hansell 3, Watkins 3, Hill 2, Cartmill, Gibbons, Muller). Steals: 7 (Schaefbauer 2, Smiley 2, Gibbons, Hansell, Muller).

WICHITA ST (53) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Evans 30 3-8 4-7 2-10 2 4 11 Williams 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 0 Overstreet 30 3-7 0-1 3-5 1 1 6 Hankton 33 1-5 1-2 0-2 5 1 3 Perez 33 6-11 7-8 2-8 0 4 22 Lemons 11 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 2 0 Rhodes 21 2-6 2-3 1-4 1 3 7 Grill 25 2-7 0-0 0-1 3 1 4 Bunch 8 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 17-48 14-21 8-32 12 20 53 _______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.354, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals: 5-17, .294 (Evans 1-2, Hankton 0-3, Perez 3-4, Lemons 0-1, Rhodes 1-4, Grill 0-3). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 2 (Grill, Bunch). Turnovers: 19 (Perez 5, Williams 4, Evans 3, Hankton 3, Bunch, Grill, Lemons, Rhodes). Steals: 9 (Perez 4, Hankton 2, Rhodes 2, Lemons). __________________________________ Illinois St 27 29 - 56 Wichita St 27 26 - 53 __________________________________ Technical fouls: None. Attendance: 5,028. Officials: Tim Hutchinson, Paul Janssen, Jim Copenhaver.