EVANSVILLE—Nick Banyard had a career-high 18 points as Illinois State used a strong second half to beat Evansville 70-60 on Thursday night as the Redbirds won the battle for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.Illinois State (15-11, 9-4) shocked No. 21 Wichita State 58-53 on Saturday. The Redbirds are three games back of the Shockers in the conference.Trailing 30-29 at the break, Illinois State’s Tony Wills and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell opened the second period with back-to-back treys for a 35-32 lead. The Redbirds pushed that to 58-45 with 5:52 left.Akoon-Purcell had 14 points, Paris Lee, who had a career-high 19 points in the Wichita State win, finished with 12 and MiKyle McIntosh added 11 for Illinois State.D.J. Balentine led Evansville (19-7, 8-5) with 19 points. Egidiju Mockevicius had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Adam Wing chipped in 11 points.