Illinois 72, Dartmouth 65

[December 11, 2013]  CHAMPAIGN — Rayvonte Rice scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Fighting Illini to a nonconference home win over the Big Green 72-65. Illinois (9-1) got 11 points from Jon Ekey, Nnanna Egwu and Joseph Bertrand, while Malcolm Hill scored 10 off the bench. The Illini shot 52 percent from the field, with Rice leading the way with 6-of-9 shooting.

Connor Boehm and Gabas Maldunas each scored 17 points to lead Dartmouth (3-4). Both also grabbed nine rebounds as the Big Green outrebounded the Illini 33-27.

Illinois started off hot, shooting 57.1 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, thoughit took a little while to shake the Big Green. Leading by three with just over six minutes to play in the half, the Illini went on a 15-4run to open things up before settling for a 12-point halftime advantage.

The second half was much of the same, though Dartmouth made a run near the end to make things close. Down 14 with two minutes to play, the Big Green cut the lead to five before the Illini hit five free throws in the final 23 seconds to ice things away.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Hill's point total was a career high, topping his previous best of seven points. …Dartmouth freshman F Eli Harrison set a career best for the second straight game, draining 4-of-7 3-pointers on the way to 14 points off the bench. … A game after hitting a season-high 12 3-pointers, the Illini were 7-of-18 from beyond the arc.

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