Illinois Beats Yale, EIU Drops Loss To Marshall

Kendrick Nunn is looking like the offensive leader Illinois has been searching for this season. The junior guard scored 18 of his career-high 28 points in the second half and Malcolm Hill finished with 20 Wednesday night to help Illinois beat Yale 69-65.

''Nunn had a great game on us,'' Yale coach James Jones said. ''He was really unstoppable.''

Illinois (5-5) took a 33-25 lead into the locker room, but Yale (5-4) stormed back behind a 12-0 run early in the second half to take a 37-35 lead.

Makai Mason hit a jumper and made a layup to pull Yale within three with two minutes left but the Bulldogs committed four turnovers and made just 1 of 4 field goals from there.

''We were uncharacteristically poor at handling the basketball tonight,'' Jones said.

The Bulldogs committed 23 turnovers which Illinois converted into 25 points.

Nunn hit a 3 to make it 66-60 with 1:25 remaining and his two free throws with two seconds to plays sealed it for Illinois.

''I was proud of the fact that we got punched in the mouth at the start of the second half on a 15-3 run and our guys really responded down two,'' Illinois coach John Groce said. ''They just buckled down and made the plays that we needed to make.''

The State Farm Center crowd urged the Illini to run away with the lead when Hill put in a contested layup to tie the game at 49-49.

Nunn then sent the hometown crowd into a frenzy with his fifth 3-pointer, giving Illinois a 52-49 lead with 8:24 to go. Jaylon Tate ran back on defense with his fists in the air in celebration.

Much different than the fist Groce put into the scorer's table as Sears scored an easy lay-in to temporarily put the Bulldogs up 44-42 a few minutes prior.

Illinois plays Illinois-Chicago Saturday at the United Center.

Marshall Hangs On For Win Over EIU

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. -- Long scoring droughts in the second half by both teams played a factor in Wednesday night’s Global Sports Classic game between Marshall and Eastern Illinois.  At the end of the night Marshall was able to use its early second half lead to the Thundering Herd’s advantage hanging on for an 82-76 win.

EIU fell to 2-5 on the year.  Marshall won its first game of the year to move to 1-6.   EIU returns to action on Saturday afternoon at Western Illinois.

Eastern Illinois cut the halftime lead to one point with Trae Anderson scoring two quick buckets to open the second half.  After a Marshall basket, Patrick Muldoon would cut the Thundering Herd lead back to one point.

Good offensive rebounding by Marshall led to quick baskets by C.J. Burks and James Kelly that started a 14-4 Marshall run.  EIU would go on a scoring drought of nearly 5:30 following a 3-pointer by Anthony Johnson at the 15:43 mark.  EIU’s next basket would come at 10:11 on a 3-pointer by Casey Teson.  Marshall led 66-51 at that point.

EIU went on a 10-0 run led by Anderson as the Panthers eventually closed the Marshall lead to five points with 3:18 left to play.   The Panthers had several chances in the final three minutes to get closer but Marshall pulled down four offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive.  Anderson’s bucket with 19 seconds left in the game cut the lead to four.

Anderson carried Eastern Illinois in the first half with 13 of his 31 points. Anderson pushed the Panthers to an early 9-5 lead with his basket at the 17:29 mark.

Austin Loop answered with back-to-back 3-pointers that started a 13-0 Marshall run giving the Thundering Herd an 18-9 lead with 15:04 to play in the first.

Marshall extended its lead to 15 points at the 10:26 mark with Ryan Taylor sinking a 3-pointer, one of eight first half 3-pointers by Marshall.  They would finish 8-of-24 from 3-point range on the night.

Anderson helped EIU slowly cut into the lead with a basket at 9:59.  Two baskets by Muldoon off of Marshall turnovers were part of a late 8-0 EIU that cut Marshall’s lead to one point with 1:07 left in the first half as A.J. Riley hit a runner in the lane.

Loop’s third 3-pointer of the first half with 27 seconds left in the half gave Marshall a 42-37 halftime lead.

Marshall had five players score in double figures led by Taylor with 21 and Burks with 19.  Kelly had 16 points, 14 rebounds.

Muldoon had 12 points for EIU and Riley added 13.

SIUE 76, SIUC 74

SIUE men's basketball connected on a season-best 54 percent of its shots Wednesday, including knocking down a season-high 10 three-pointers en route to a 76-74 upset of SIU Carbondale at SIU Arena.

SIUE's win marked the first in the series with its sister school and was the first road win for the team under Head Coach Jon Harris. The Cougars improved to 2-7. It was the first home loss this season for SIU Carbondale which dropped to 8-2 with the defeat.

"Our guys did a great job," Harris said. "They put a full game together and found a way. We didn't do everything great down the stretch. But we found a way to get a win and that's the most important thing."

The Cougars led 39-37 at the break. The Salukis got a quick three-point play by Anthony Beane to open the second half and led 40-39 just 16 seconds into the period.

Burak Eslik hit a foul shot to tie the game 40-40 and then buried a three-pointer at the 19:03 mark to move the Cougars in front 43-40. They never trailed again in the game.

SIUE built as large as a 12-point lead in the game and survived a furious late comeback attempt by the Salukis.