By Austin Duncan
NORMAL- The Redbirds tied its season-high for 3-pointers made, connecting on 15 shots in its 76-64 victory over Missouri Valley Conference rival Drake at Redbird Arena.
The Redbirds got off to an early 13-6 lead over Drake before the Bulldogs used a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game at the 14:03 mark of the first half.
The run was stopped by Illinois State’s Justin McCloud who hit a 3-pointer on the next possession that allowed the Redbirds to regain the lead. McCloud’s 3-pointer sparked a 12-4 run for the Redbirds, giving them a 22-17 lead with 6:48 to play in the first half. Illinois State’s run was capped by a thunderous dunk by Devaughn Akoon-Purcell.
Drake battle back to cut the lead to just three before Illinois State used a 7-0 run capped by steal and dunk by MiKyle McIntosh to give Illinois State a 38-28 lead.
Drake’s Graham Woodward halted the Redbirds run at the 1:42 mark of the first half.
The Redbirds would expand its first half lead to as many as 10 once again as Drake would end the half on a 5-0 run to trail 40-35 at halftime.
Drake drew first blood in the second half on a dunk by Jacob Enevold but that unleashed the beast inside of the Redbirds.
Illinois State rattled off a 17-0 run, capped by a McCloud 3-pointer. Drake stopped the run on a layup by Dominik Olejniczak at the 13:09 mark of the second half, down 57-39.
Drake would not lay down, answering with an 11-0 run of its own, including seven points coming from Reed Timmer, cutting the Redbird lead to 57-48 with 9:19 to play.
MiKyle McIntosh would stop the run, making one of two free throws, followed by a steal and a layup to give ISU a 12 point advantage.
The Bulldogs would cut the lead to 10 once more but McIntosh would have nothing of it sinking back-to-back-to back 3-pointers to balloon ISU’s lead to 16.
The pesky Bulldogs battled back once again using another 9-0 run to cut ISU’s lead to just eight.
With just under two minutes to play, Devaughn Akoon-Purcell found Deontae Hawkins for his fifth 3-pointer of the game to expand ISU’s lead back to 11. Drake would not get closer for the remainder of the game.
Illinois State shot its best 3-point percentage of the season connecting on 54-percent of its attempts. MiKyle McIntosh led a balanced scoring attack for the Redbirds, tying his career-high 25 points. Deontae Hawkins made 5-of-6 3-pointers, finishing with 17 points. Justin McCloud stayed hot, adding 12 points, while Devaughn Akoon-Purcell added 10 points.
Tony Wills collected a career-high seven assists with no turnovers, while Mikyle McIntosh added a team-high seven rebounds. Every Redbird who entered the game collected at least one rebound.
Drake was able to remain competitive in the game in part to Reed Timmer who collected a team-high 19 points, seven coming from the free throw line. Penn State transfer Graham Woodward added 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting and a team-high five assists. Ore Arogundade finished with a game-high eight rebounds.
The statement “defense wins games” cannot be overlooked as the Redbirds forced 21 turnovers. ISU made the Bulldogs pay by scoring 27 points off the turnovers.
The Redbirds are riding its second three game winning streak of the season and improves to 6-3 at the halfway mark of MVC play. Drake is the first team Illinois State has played twice this season as the Redbirds completed the season sweep, winning the first game 67-62 at Drake.
Drake remains winless in the Missouri Valley.
Illinois State now begins a two game road swing as it will travel to Missouri State for a 3 p.m. tip on Saturday before traveling to Loyola next Wednesday.
Redbird preview will begin Saturday at 2 p.m.
Listen to postgame comments from head coach Dan Muller here.
Listen to postgame comments from MiKyle McIntosh here.
