By WJBC Staff
NORMAL – For the third time this season, five Illinois State players scored in double figures to lead the Redbirds in a 74-57 non-conference victory over UT Martin Saturday afternoon on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
ISU (5-3) led wire-to-wire while shooting 25-for-56 (44.6 percent) from the field and 12-for-29 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Skyhawks (8-3) shot 17-for-53 (32.1 percent) from the field. Illinois State outrebounded UT Martin, 39-36, and the Redbirds teamed up to earn 19 assists with 14 turnovers. UTM had seven assists with 17 turnovers.
Phil Fayne, Deontae Hawkins, MiKyle McIntosh and Paris Lee each scored 12 points to lead ISU, while Tony Wills added 10. Fayne collected a team-high eight rebounds. Lee dished out five assists and forced two steals to increase his career-steals total to 200. Lee is just the second player in Illinois State history to force 200 career-steals, second only to Ron Jones’ 222 steals. UT Martin was led by Kedar Edwards’ 15 points.
To start Saturday afternoon’s game, Lee netted a 3-pointer from the right wing followed by another trifecta, this time from the left wing, and Illinois State built a 6-0 lead before UT Martin was forced to call a timeout. A Wills jumper pushed the Redbird advantage to 8-1 at the 18:01 mark, and another Lee 3-pointer made the score 11-4. Illinois State then manufactured a 12-0 run – including eight points by Wills – from 15:09 to 11:52 to take a 23-7 lead.
The Redbirds went on to build a 30-14 advantage before UT Martin responded with an 8-3 run to pull within 33-22 with 4:45 remaining in the first half. Hawkins stopped the streak with a baseline 3-pointer. Hawkins then netted another baseline 3-ball followed by a jumper to push the Redbird advantage to 43-25 with 57 seconds to play in the first half, and Illinois State held a 43-28 halftime advantage.
Wills led all first-half scorers with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting. ISU shot 15-for-31 (48.4 percent) from the field in the first half compared to a 9-for-24 (37.5 percent) effort by UT Martin.
The Skyhawks outscored ISU, 7-2, to begin the second half, and UT Martin pulled within 45-35 at the 17:45 mark on a Matthew Butler 3-pointer. Illinois State responded with an 8-2 run to take an 18-point lead, 55-37, as Fayne scored a layup with 16:03 remaining. After being held without a field goal for more than three minutes, Fayne stopped the Redbird scoring drought by throwing down an alley-oop dunk from McIntosh to make the score, 59-40, at the 12:13 mark.
Defensively, Illinois State held UT Martin without a field goal for more than seven minutes, from 14:14 until 6:59, as the Redbirds built a 65-42, 23-point advantage – their largest of the game – with 7:40 remaining. Illinois State went on to win 74-57.
Following Saturday’s game, Illinois State is off next week for final exams. The Redbirds will then face Saint Joseph’s Sunday, Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. before traveling to the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii to conclude non-conference play.
