BLOOMINGTON, Ind—Illinois’ Mike Tisdale was nearly perfect from the free-throw line Saturday night.Demetri McCamey was almost as good.The two combined to make 24-of-30 free throws Saturday night and D. J. Richardson hit a 17-footer to give Illinois its first lead in nearly 36 minutes as the Fighting Illini rallied for a 66-60 victory at Indiana. It’s the first time Illinois (11-5, 3-0 Big Ten) has won in Bloomington in consecutive seasons since 1997 and 1998.Tisdale led the Fighting Illini with 27 points and nine rebounds. McCamey came off the bench to score 19 points. The Hoosiers (7-8, 1-2) were led by Verdell Jones with 13 points and freshman Jordan Hulls, who matched his season high with 12 points.But the difference in this one, clearly, was free-throw shooting.Indiana was called for 28 fouls, and Illinois capitalized by making 27-of-39 free-throw attempts.The Hoosiers, meanwhile, were 10-of-18 from the line and blew a 15-point first-half lead.Indiana, which already has more wins this season than in coach Tom Crean’s first season in Bloomington, had a chance to top last year’s Big Ten victory total Saturday.
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YOUNGSTOWN—DeAndre Mays scored 30 points to lead Youngstown State to a 71-67 victory over Loyola on Saturday night.The Penguins (7-8, 2-4 Horizon League) led 64-55 on Mays’ layup with 2:53 to play, but Loyola (11-5, 2-4) went on a 10-1 run to tie the score at 65 with 1:15 remaining.Terrance Hill scored eight points in the run, but missed a free throw that would have given the Ramblers a one-point lead with 1:15 left.Mays then converted a three-point play with 54 seconds left and Dallas Blocker added another one with 10 seconds remaining as Youngstown State finished 3-2 on a five-game homestand.The Penguins shot 65.2 percent from the field (15-for-23) in the second half. Kelvin Bright had 16 and Sirlester Martin scored 14 for Youngstown State.Hill finished with 18 points, Walt Gibler scored 12, Ben Averkamp had 11 and Courtney Stanley added 10 for Loyola.
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CLEVELAND—Jeremy Montgomery scored 17 points and had five assists as Cleveland State withstood a late rally to defeat UIC 70-63 on Saturday.The Vikings (7-10, 3-2 Horizon League) led 65-49 with 4:01 remaining, but the Flames (5-11, 1-5) used a 14-1 run, including six points by Chris Buchanan, to pull within 66-63 with 51 seconds left. D’Aundray Brown, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, hit two free throws to increase Cleveland State’s lead to 68-63. After a missed UIC shot, Montgomery added two free throws for the final margin.Cleveland State scored the game’s first eight points, but UIC built an eight-point lead of its own, 30-22, with 3:16 left until halftime. Two 3-pointers by Jared Cunningham started an 11-1 Cleveland State run to a 33-33 halftime tie.Jeremy Buttell had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Flames.
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NORMAL—Jordan Eglseder scored 16 points to lead Northern Iowa to a 59-44 victory over Illinois State Saturday. Adam Koch had 15 points and Kwadzo Ahelegbe 13 for the Panthers (14-1, 5-0) in the Missouri Valley Conference game. Eglseder also had a team-high eight rebounds.Alex Rubin had 13 points to lead the Redbirds (12-4, 3-2) while Dinma Odiakosa had 10 points and 14 rebounds. Osiris Eldridge also had 10 points for Illinois State.UNI took the lead for good at 14-13 and, helped by a 9-0 run later in the first half, led 32-20 at intermission.
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CARBONDALE—Ryan Wedel hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 35 seconds left and Adam Templeton had a double-double as Drake defeated Southern Illinois 70-65 on Saturday night.Templeton had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulldogs (6-11, 1-4 Missouri Valley), who ended a six-game losing streak. Wedel scored 14 points, and Josh Young contributed 11.Kevin Dillard scored 19 points and Carlton Fay and Tony Freeman had 13 apiece for the Salukis (9-5, 2-3), who lost their third in a row.The game was tied 27-27 at halftime, and Templeton forged the ninth tie of the night when he converted a three-point play to make it 62-62 with 1:34 left.Dillard put the Salukis ahead with a 3-pointer, but Seth VanDeest cut it to 65-63 on a free throw with 59 seconds left, setting the stage for Wedel’s big shot.
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MUNCIE—Xavier Silas scored 25 points, going 15-for-15 from the free-throw line, as Northern Illinois defeated Ball State 62-48 on Saturday.It was the Mid-American Conference opener for both schools.Ball State led 26-24 at halftime, but after Silas’ layup in the first minute of the second half, the Cardinals never led again.Silas scored 20 of Northern Illinois’ 38 second-half points. He also had nine rebounds in the game.Michael Fakuade had 10 points, despite being limited to 11 minutes by foul trouble, and Darion Anderson 10 rebounds for the Huskies (5-8, 1-0).
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VILLANOVA—One or two more baskets is all that separated Marquette from enjoying a breakthrough season with two wins against the preseason Big East favorite.Coach Jay Wright’s sixth-ranked Villanova Wildcats refused to relinquish the top spot that easily. For the second straight Saturday, Villanova held on down the stretch for a win at the wire against the Golden Eagles.Corey Stokes scored 16 points after missing a game with a hamstring injury and Villanova survived a second scare in eight days against Marquette in a 78-76 win on Saturday.The Wildcats (14-1, 3-0 Big East) surged to a 22-point lead early in the second half only to have it eaten into by a series of late 3s by the Golden Eagles. It was the second weekend thriller between the powerhouse Wildcats and the rebuilding Golden Eagles (10-6, 1-3). Scottie Reynolds, the star of Villanova’s Final Four run last season, scored the go-ahead basket with 18.1 seconds left last Saturday to beat Marquette 74-72 in their Big East opener.
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SOUTH BEND—Notre Dame guard Tory Jackson expected West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler to take the last shot for the win and made sure he got a hand in his face.Butler, who hit a winning 3 at the buzzer against Marquette on Dec. 29, couldn’t do it again against the Fighting Irish. His shot at the buzzer rolled around the rim and out and Notre Dame, which led by 22 early in the second half, held on for a 70-68 victory over the eighth-ranked Mountaineers on Saturday night.The Irish (14-3, 3-1 Big East) were 14 of 20 on free throws in the final 11:20, while West Virginia was 2 of 4 for the game. It was the second straight game where the Irish pulled out a win in the closing seconds. Luke Harangody, who led the Irish with 24 points against West Virginia, hit the winning free throw with 1.9 seconds left against South Florida on Tuesday after the Irish squandered a 13-point second-half lead