 Daishon Knight led the way for the Redbirds with a team-high 16
points and six rebounds, and Lofton finished the game with 14
points, including a 7-for-8 effort from the free-throw line, to go
along with a career-high-tying five assists. Nick Zeisloft rounded
out a trio of Redbirds in double figures with 11 points in the win.
DePaul was led by Billy Garrett Jr., who led all scorers with a
career-high 18 points. Cleveland Melvin, who came into the game
averaging a team-leading 17.6 points per game, was held to just four
points on 2-of-8 shooting and fouled out with 3:15 left.
The two teams traded baskets over the first nine-plus minutes of
the contest, with Illinois State leading by as many as four points,
at 13-9, after a jumper by Knight with just over 11 minutes left.
DePaul would eventually cut into that lead, and after a 12-3 run,
the Blue Demons had a 21-16 lead at the under-eight-minute timeout.
A 7-0 run for ISU over the next two minutes gave the Redbirds the
lead back at 23-21. A pair of DePaul free throws tied the game
seconds later, but four straight points on a jumper by Lofton and a
fast-break layup by Tony Wills put ISU back up by four points at
27-23.
ISU maintained a single-digit lead over the next four minutes of
action, until DePaul's Brandon Young connected from beyond the arc,
from the top of the key, to knot the score at 34-34 with 30 seconds
left in the half. Illinois State got the last shot and Zeisloft made
it count, as he connected from 3-point range to give the Redbirds a
37-34 lead at halftime.
DePaul struck first in the second half, as a layup from Melvin
cut the Redbird lead to one at 37-36. Illinois State came right back
and widened its lead back to four points at 40-36 after a 3-pointer
from Paris Lee, but DePaul would rip off an 11-0 run to take its
largest lead of the game at 47-40 lead on a jumper by Garrett with
16:48 left on the clock.
[to top of second column] |
The Redbirds fought right back with a quick 7-2 run, capped
off on a 3-pointer by Lofton, to cut the Blue Demon lead to two
points at 49-47 two minutes later. ISU stayed close to DePaul
over the next 4 1/2 minutes of play, before eventually regaining
the lead for the first time since the 18:47 mark, when Knight
connected from 3-point range to put the Redbirds up 56-55 with
8:13 remaining in the game.
After Knight scored on a layup to extend the lead to 58-55,
Durrell McDonald knotted the game with a 3-pointer of his own with
just less than six minutes left on the clock. Pairs of free throws
from Lofton and Zeisloft grew the ISU lead to 62-58, and four more
makes from the stripe for Lofton gave the Redbirds their largest
lead of the game at 66-58 with three minutes left.
Five straight points from Garrett on a pair of free throws and a
3-pointer from the top of the key cut the Redbird lead to 66-63 just
30 seconds later, and a free throw from Greg Sequele trimmed the ISU
lead to two at 66-64, but that would be as close as DePaul would get
as three free throws down the stretch sealed the win for the
Redbirds.
The Redbirds will return to action Jan. 2, when they travel to
Springfield, Mo., to open Missouri Valley Conference action at
Missouri State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. against the Bears
at JQH Arena.
___
ISU vs. DePaul statistics (PDF) [Text from
news release received from
Illinois State University] |
