Redbirds falter down the stretch, fall to Bradley 83-77

[January 30, 2013]  PEORIA -- After leading by as many as 16 points in the first half, eight at halftime and seven in the second half, the Illinois State men's basketball team (12-10, 3-7 MVC) fell to in-state rival Bradley (13-9, 5-5 MVC) for the first time in the last eight meetings, 83-77, Tuesday evening at Carver Arena.

The Redbirds surrendered points on 14 Bradley's final 15 possessions and were held without a field goal for over five minutes down the stretch. Despite tying a season high with 13-made 3-pointers, turnovers hindered the Redbirds throughout the contest. ISU committed a season-high 23 in the loss, with Bradley scoring 27 points off of the miscues.

Jackie Carmichael and John Wilkins each scored 16 points to lead ISU, a season high for Wilkins. Tyler Brown (13) and Jon Ekey (11) both also scored in double figures. Bradley's Walt Lemon Jr. scored a career-high 27 points to lead the way for the victorious Braves.

After Bradley took its first lead of the game, 43-42, at the 15:27 mark of the second half, Illinois State seemed to regain control. A pair of 3-pointers from Nick Zeisloft and Ekey helped extend the lead to seven, at 59-52, with 7:56 left. However, with ISU up 63-58 at the 5:08 mark, the Braves ripped off a 9-0 run in just 1:13 to take a 67-63 lead at the 3:48 mark. Three straight Redbird turnovers aided the run, from which ISU could not recover.

After a back-and-forth start that saw each team go on a 5-0 run in the game's first four minutes, the Redbirds grabbed early control of the game with an 18-2 spurt through the middle part of the opening half. Wilkins, Zeisloft and Ekey each hit 3-pointers early in the run to give ISU a 19-9 lead at the 12:08 mark of the first half. Zeisloft's 3 began a stretch of 12 straight ISU points, during which the Redbird defense held Bradley scoreless for 5:27. A one-handed alley-oop dunk by Carmichael on a feed from Johnny Hill capped the run and gave the Redbirds a 25-9 lead with 9:02 left in the first half.

The Braves responded, however, cutting the ISU lead from 16 to seven in less than four minutes. Will Egolf's one-and-one on a putback dunk brought the Braves within seven, at 27-20, with 5:35 left in the first half. After Carmichael put the Redbird lead back into double digits with a dunk and ensuing free throw, Lemon Jr., scored four straight points to make it 30-24. Wilkins hit a 3 on the following possession, the last field goal of the half for either team, as ISU went into the break with a 36-28 lead.

Bradley opened the second half on an 11-3 run to tie the game at 39 on a three-point play from Tyshon Pickett with 17:04 left. Brown responded with his first points of the game on a 3 from the left corner to put ISU back on top momentarily, before four straight BU points resulted in ISU's first deficit of the night, 43-42, with 15:42 left. The BU lead was short-lived, as Allen, Wilkins and Allen again hit treys on back-to-back-to-back possessions to put ISU back on top 51-45 with 13:31 remaining. However, the Redbirds could not hold on to the advantage.

ISU returns to Doug Collins Court for its next game Saturday, against Southern Illinois. It will be Retro Night at Redbird Arena, with the team sporting throw-back jerseys. Tipoff is set for 3:05 p.m.

[Text from news release received from Illinois State University]