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MVC Tourney
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ISU
vs.
Akron
November 20th
ISU whips the Zips
ISU made great strides tonight in a very physical, fast paced hard fought game defeating a scrappy Akron team 84-69. The only battle the Birds lost was the battle of the boards as the Zips out rebounded ISU 50-42. ISU shot 44% from the field, 85% from the line and 64% from three point land on 9-14 shooting compared to Akron's 34% on FG's, 62% FT's and a dismal 8% from 3 on 2-23 shooting.
The Birds jumped out to a quick lead of 13-3 and Akron never got closer than 5 the rest of the way. ISU held off run after run as Akron employed a full court press most of the way. Former walk-on Ryan Crowley led the way through the first half hitting a three pointer and 7 out of 7 free throws for 10 points as ISU took a 43-30 half time lead into the locker room.
The second half was much the same with the Birds holding off several Akron runs while never folding. A big three by Tarise Bryson followed by back to back threes and a traditional 3 point play by Kyle Cartmill finally broke Akron's back.
Even though, for the most part, Akron was a hard fighting solid team, poor sportsmanship seemed to overshadow their scrappy play. Guard Jami Bosley was involved in several cheap plays including purposely pulling down Tyrone Brown by the arm in an attempt to draw a foul. 5-10 point guard Jimmal Ball tried to get physical with 7-0 Sean Riley after a jump ball was called and Ryan Andrick shouted obscenities and spat at someone in the crowd after being called for his 4th foul with a little more than a minute to go then fouling out on a cheap futile foul with 7 seconds to go after the game was decided.
Bryson once again led ISU in scoring with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Freshman point guard Victor Williams handled the ball much better tonight only turning the ball over 1 time against a guard tandem considered by some magazines to be one of the tops in the country. He also scored 6 points, grabbed 2 rebounds and 3 steals along with 1 assist. Sean Riley, who is quickly becoming my favorite player, had a team high 9 rebounds as well as 15 points and a team high 4 blocked shots. He also shot a perfect 8-8 from the line. L. Dee Murdock, Mrs. Birdfan's favorite, scored 10 points, 4 rebounds and tied Vic with 3 steals. Crowley finished with 14 points and 2 rebounds. Cartmill had 9 points, all in the final minutes. Leroy Watkins scored 7 and grabbed 7 rebounds before fouling out.
ILLINOIS STATE 84, Akron 69
AKRON (0-1)
Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Andirck 8-16 4-8 20, Weinkein 5-90 10, Ball 6-17
2-3 15, Bosley 3-16 3-4 10, Benton 1-6 0-0 2, Johnson 0-2 0-0 0,
Phillips 3-8 1-2 7, Schindewolf 1-4 3-4 5, Falknor 0-2 0-0 0
Totals 27-80 13-21 69.
ILLINOIS STATE (2-1)
Brown 1-2 4-6 6, Riley 3-6 8-8 15, Watkins 2-5 3-4 7, Williams
2-6 1-2 6, Bryson 5-14 3-4 17, Jeppson 0-0 0-0 0, Pierson 0-1 0-0
0, Cartmill 3-4 1-1 9, Crowley 3-5 7-7 14, Hein 0-0 0-0 0,
Mazanowski 0-0 0-0 0, Murdock 4-9 2-2 10. Totals 23-52 29-34 84.
Halftime-Illinois St. 43, Akron 30. 3-Point goals-Akron 2-23
(Andrick 0-1, Ball 1-7, Bosley 1-7, Benton 0-3, Phillips 0-2,
Schindewolf 0-2, Falknor 0-1), Illinois St. 9-14 (Riley 1-1,
Williams 1-1, Bryson 4-8, Cartmill 2-2, Crowley 1-2). Fouled
Out-Andrick, Watkins. Rebounds-Akron 50 (Andrick 10), Illinois
St. 40 (Riley 9). Assists-Akron 8 (Ball 3, Bosley 3), Illinois
St. 13 (Bryson 4). Total fouls-Akron 25, Illinois St. 23.
A-6,699.