 Carmichael scored a large chunk of his points from the foul line,
going 12 for 13 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Redbirds
were 25 for 32 on free throws, a season best. Seventeen of the makes
came in the second half, as ISU held off a Morgan State charge for a
second consecutive win.The Redbirds opened the game on a 7-2 run,
with four points from Carmichael and a 3-pointer from Jon Ekey to
get ISU started. After a 3-pointer from the Bears, Allen connected
from deep to put ISU up 10-5. The Bears hit another 3-pointer to
climb back within 10-8 at the 15:45 mark.
The Bears evened the game at 10-10 on a driving baseline layup by
Anthony Hubbard. However, ISU regained the lead with a 9-3 run over
a 1:48 span. Nick Zeisloft scored his first points of the game with
a 3-pointer in transition, before a Jordan Threloff layup forced a
timeout by the Bears, with the Redbirds up 19-13.
After a dunk by Johnny Hill at the 11:45 mark gave ISU a 21-15
lead, the Redbirds didn't hit a field goal for the next 3:36. They
maintained the lead by scoring six points from the free-throw line
during the stretch, before a Hill layup gave ISU its largest lead,
29-17, with 8:09 left in the half.
Allen scored four straight ISU points to extend the Redbirds'
advantage to 33-20 at the 6:32 mark. After a bucket by the Bears,
back-to-back baskets from Zeisloft and Carmichael put ISU up 37-22.
Morgan State climbed back within 11 at 39-28 at the 3:07 mark,
before the Redbirds closed the half on an 8-1 run to lead 47-29 at
the break. Carmichael scored five points during that stretch to give
him a game-high 13 first-half points, while Allen hit a floater with
five seconds left to give him nine points, which was more than he
scored in each of the last four games.
[to top of second column] |
ISU opened the second half with six straight points as part
of a 10-2 run, pushing the lead to a game-high 57-32 at the
16:38 mark. Carmichael scored six points during the stretch,
including four from the free-throw line. The Bears responded,
however, with a 14-2 run over the next 5:27, which included 10
straight points, to pull back within 13 points at 59-46. The
Redbirds went scoreless for 4:19 during the run, which ended
when Hill found Carmichael for a layup at the 11:11 mark,
extending ISU's lead to 61-46.
The Bears kept up the pressure, scoring eight of the game's next
11 points. A Carmichael turnover led to a fast-break dunk by Dewayne
Jackson, making the score 64-54 with 9:42 left. Carmichael and Ekey
each hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to 14, before
Carmichael scored in the post to put ISU up 70-54 with 8:39 left in
the contest.
The Bears continued to battle back, scoring six straight points
to climb back within 10 points at 70-60, with 7:06 left to play. The
Redbirds endured another long field-goal drought, this one spanning
4:11, before Carmichael emphatically ended it by dunking an alley-oop
feed from Allen with 4:28 remaining, giving ISU a 76-63 lead. The
dunk started a 9-0 run, as the Redbirds pushed the lead back to
83-63 with 2:53 left. Ekey capped the run with a 3-pointer and two
free throws, scoring ISU's last nine points of the game overall to
seal the win.
Ekey scored 18 points overall, a season high. Allen added 13
points for the Redbirds, eclipsing his total offensive output of 12
points in his previous four games. Brown, the Redbirds' leading
scorer, was held to a season-low two points and did not make a field
goal.
The Redbirds hit the road for the first time since Dec. 1 for
their next game at Dayton on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.,
and the game will air live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
[Text from
news release received from
Illinois State University] |
