Sophomore Leron Black tied a career-high with 18 points and Illinois held Virginia Commonwealth to 30-percent shooting to win 64-46 Saturday in the HoopHall Miami Invitational.
Malcolm Hill added 16 points, five assists and two steals, and Jalen Coleman-Lands had 12 points for Illinois (6-3).
VCU (6-2), which was off to its best start since 1993, had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Black went 6 for 13, had eight rebounds and was chosen the game's most valuable player. The Rams shot a season-worst 16 for 53, including 2 for 18 (11 percent) from 3-point range.
JeQuan Lewis, averaging a team-high 15.7 points, was held to three points. Mo Alie-Cox led the Rams with 10 points. They came in shooting 50 percent this season and had scored at least 63 points in every game.
The Illini missed 10 of their first 11 shots while falling behind 11-4. A 9-0 run put them ahead 22-14, and they led the rest of the way.
>>Illinois State Tops New Mexico
Paris Lee scored 18 points, dished out a career-high 11 assists and hit a pair of free throws with 23 seconds remaining to lift Illinois State to a 79-74 win over New Mexico on Saturday night.
Illinois State (4-2) led by as many as 10 points late in the second half before New Mexico rallied, cutting the deficit to 75-74 on Elijah Brown's 3-pointer with a minute left in the game. Lee hit a jumper at the other end to extend the Redbirds' advantage back to three, then got both free throws after being sent to the line with 23 seconds left.
New Mexico missed its last two shots, both 3-point attempts.
Deontae Hawkins added 14 points for Illinois State, Keyshawn Evans got 12 points, all from long range, and Phil Fayne had 10 rebounds.
Brown finished with 21 points to lead New Mexico (5-3) and Damien Jefferson added 12 points.
>>Nevada Rolls Bradley
Jordan Caroline and D.J. Fenner combined for 44 points as Nevada dominated Bradley 91-69 in the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge on Saturday.
Caroline had a career-high 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Fenner, who had 13 points in the first half, made a career-high 5 of 6 from beyond the arc to finish with 21 points. Marcus Marshall and Leland King II added 12 points each and Lindsey Drew chipped in 11 and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds for Nevada (7-2), which has won seven of the last eight games.
Nevada controlled the game from the beginning, hitting 17 of 30 (56.7 percent) from the floor in the first half, the best first period the Wolfpack has had this season. They were 30 of 54 (55.6 percent) for the game and made 11 of 23 from long range. They never trailed and led 46-26 at the break.
Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye led Bradley (4-4) with 15 points.
