Illinois State jumped out to an early lead, and held on late, as ISU picked up a 54-49 win over the Eastern Illinois Panthers on Thursday evening, as Redbird head coach Ryan Pedon picked up the first coaching victory of his young career.
For the second consecutive game Luke Kasubke had a career-high scoring effort, scoring a game-high 16 points tonight, making 4-of-5 shots from long range and all four of his free throw tries. Malachi Poindexter scored 11 points, while Joe Petrakis added 10. Kendall Lewis pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds – his second consecutive 14-rebound game to open the season, which ties the school record for most rebounds over the first two games of a season.
ISU struck first in the game with a jumper by Kendall Lewis, and the Redbirds would trail for just 17 total seconds of game-play time in the contest. EIU's lone advantage came by a basket in the paint to give the hosts a 6-4 lead; however, Poindexter kicked off a 16-4 run with a three-pointer 17 seconds later. The Redbird advantage would grow to as many as 12 in the first half after Lewis made a three throw with four seconds left, sending ISU into the locker room with a 28-16 lead.
The teams traded baskets to start the half, before the hosts started chipping away at the ISU lead, and tied the game with 9:36 remaining in the game. Three pointers from Kasubke and Petrakis over a stretch of three possessions pushed the ISU lead to four. Despite not trailing in the second half, the ISU lead would only grow to as many as seven over the last 10 minutes of the contest, as ISU iced the game by making four free throws in the final 15 seconds – two each from Kasubke and Poindexter – to secure the win.
The Redbirds shot 36.2 percent from the field in the game (17-of-47), but converted on 40.9 percent (9-of-22) from long range and 84.6 percent (11-of-13) from its free throw tries. Eastern Illinois – who out-rebounded ISU 36-to-32 – made 19-of-57 shots (33.3%), making just 2-of-18 (11.1%) from long range.
The hosts were led by Kinyon Hodges who scored 14 points and was the only Panther player in double-figures for the contest.
The Redbirds, now at 1-1 on the season, remain on the road and travel to Natchitoches, Louisiana, for a Saturday evening battle with Northwestern State – the first of two consecutive games against the Demons.
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