>>Illinois Blows By Marshall

 

Leron Black scored 17 points and Kipper Nichols had 17 points and 11 rebounds off the bench Sunday to lead Illinois past Marshall 91-74.

 

The Illini (4-0) opened up 23-point lead, 66-43, with 12 mintues left in the game on a jump shot by Nichols. The Thundering Herd (4-2) never threatened again.

 

The Illini held Marshall leading scorer Jon Elmore to 14 points. Elmore entered the game averaging 28.3 points. He was 2-of-11 shooting on the night, including 0 of 5 in the second half.

 

Jarrod West led Marshall with 22 points.

 

Mark Smith and Michael Finke added 13 each for Illinois.

 

The Illini used big advantages in bench scoring and rebounding to close out the Herd. The Illini outrebounded Marshall 45-20 and had 42 points off the bench to the Herd's 10.

 

Illinois will host Augustana, a Division III school from Rock Island, Illinois, on Wednesday.

 

>>Illinois State Topples Tulane

 

Keyshawn Evans scored 29 points and Illinois State jumped out to a huge first-half lead to beat Tulsa 84-68 in Sunday's third-place game at the relocated Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Evans had 20 points by halftime on 8-for-9 shooting, helping the Redbirds (2-2) run off 20 straight points to take control in the opening 6½ minutes. Illinois State shot 62 percent and hit eight 3-pointers to build a 46-27 halftime lead, then led by as many as 22 points.

 

The Golden Hurricane (2-3) never got the deficit below double figures in the second half.

 

Evans made 10 of 13 shots for the game, including all six of his 3-point tries. Illinois State finished shooting 57 percent and made 12 of 23 3-pointers.

 

Junior Etou scored 16 points before fouling out late for Tulsa, which shot 37 percent.

 

The Tip-Off was moved to South Carolina due to hurricane damage in Puerto Rico.

 

>>Bradley Beats Weber State

 

Darrell Brown scored 23 points and Bradley beat Weber State 70-64 in the fifth-place game at the Island of the Bahamas Showcase on Sunday.

Elijah Childs added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Braves (4-1), who had an uncharacteristically poor game on 3-point offense and defense but used superior rebounding and 18 of 23 free-throw shooting to overcome the Wildcats (3-2).

 

Bradley came in averaging 44.6 on 3-pointers, better than its overall average, and 25 percent 3-point defense, but Weber State shot 44 percent from the arc and Bradley just 33 percent.

 

Jerrick Harding made four 3-pointers and scored 26 points for Weber State. Brekkott Champman added four 3-pointers and 16 points and Ryan Richardson 11 points.

 

A 10-0 run, including five points from Brown, gave Bradley a 38-26 halftime lead. Harding scored seven points in an 11-2 run that tied the game at 57 with 4½ minutes left but JoJo McGlaston had a bucket and Brown added five points in a 7-0 spurt. Weber State got within two in the final 30 seconds but Bradley converted 6 of 6 free throws to hold on.