Local News

Illinois Falls To Michigan State; IWU Dominates Elmhurst On Special Night

 width=>>Illinois Wesleyan Dominates Elmhurst On Eventful Night

Illinois Wesleyan gave an impressive performance on the night when the seniors were honored and "Dennie Bridges Court" was christened, beating Elmhurst 96-66 at the Shirk Center on Saturday.

Pat Sodermann poured in a game high 18 points. Mike Marietti and Dylan Overstreet added 15 apiece and Marietti pulled down a game high 8 rebounds.

Brady Rose contributed a new career-high 13 points and Trevor Seibring added 11 points and five boards.

Elmhurst was led by Bryant Ackerman with 14 points. Brandon Schwebke added 12 points and Kyle Wuest had 10 in the setback.

The Titans improved to 18-7 overall and 10-4 in the CCIW while the Bluejays slipped to 19-6 overall and 9-5 in the conference.

The Titans are the No. 2 seed in the CCIW tournament and will play Elmhurst again Friday at Rock Island. Augustana is the No. 1 seed and won their final regular season game 89-55 at Wheaton.

 width=>>Illinois Can't Keep Up With Michigan State

Travis Trice scored 18 points off the bench, including a pair of late free throws, to help Michigan State seal a win over Illinois Sunday night, 60-53.

Michigan State (19-8, 10-4 Big Ten) ran its winning streak to four games in a physical, sometimes chippy road victory.

The Spartans led by as many as 11 with less than five minutes to play. But Illinois (17-10, 7-7) closed to within three points and with 38 seconds to play had a chance to tie, but Kendrick Nunn missed a 3-pointer.

Trice brought down the rebound, drew a foul and hit the free throws.

Denzel Valentine led Michigan State with 20 points and nine rebounds. Branden Dawson added 13 points and seven boards. Matt Costello fouled out late.

Malcolm Hill led Illinois with 17 points and Rayvonte Rice added 15. The Illini have lost two straight.

 width=>>Redbirds Down Loyola (IL)

Daishon Knight scored 21 points to lead Illinois State to a 67-60 victory over Loyola of Chicago on Saturday night.

Illinois State (17-11, 9-7 Missouri Valley) has won back-to-back games and is guaranteed at least at fifth place finish in the conference.

Knight was 7 of 12 from the field and made all six of his free-throw attempts. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell had 14 points and MiKyle McIntosh finished with 10 for the Redbirds, who shot 25 of 48 (52 percent) from the floor.

Loyola's Devon Turk hit a 3 to pull the Ramblers within 51-49 with 4:20 to play. Reggie Lynch answered with a layup, sparking a 9-1 surge to give the Redbirds a 10 point lead with 1:53 left. Knight hit a jumper and the Redbirds made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to seal it.

Christian Thomas scored 14 points to lead Loyola (16-12, 6-10).

 width=>>Northern Iowa Rolls Bradley

Nate Buss and Wes Washpun each scored 11 points off the bench and 11th-ranked Northern Iowa rolled past Bradley 56-39 on Saturday, matching a school record with its 15th straight win.

Seth Tuttle added nine points and eight rebounds for the Panthers (26-2, 15-1 MVC), who also took their seventh straight by at least 10 points.

Northern Iowa led by just four at halftime. But its defense allowed just seven points in the opening 12:37 of the second half, helping turn a tight game into yet another blowout in favor of the surging Panthers.

Josh Cunningham and Nate Wells each had six points for Bradley (8-21, 3-13). The Braves are the fourth team that Northern Iowa has held to 40 points or less during Valley play.

 width=>>Michigan Weathers Furious Ohio State Comeback

Spike Albrecht scored 16 points and dished out five assists in the Michigan Wolverines' 64-57 win over the 24th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday.

Zak Irvin added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Wolverines (14-13, 7-8 Big Ten), who snapped a five-game skid and avenged a 71-52 loss to Ohio State on Jan. 13.

D'Angelo Russell ended with 16 points for the Buckeyes (19-8, 8-6), who have lost two in a row. Keita Bates-Diop and Sam Thompson contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Trailing 49-32, Ohio State used a 14-0 run to make things interesting. Russell tallied eight points during the burst and Bates-Diop's jumper cut the gap to 49-46 with 6:59 to play.

Irvin stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer and Michigan led by at least four the rest of the way.

NCAA Top-25 Men's Basketball ("USA Today" Rankings)
------
#3 Virginia Cavaliers 51, Florida State Seminoles 41
Oregon Ducks 69, #9 Utah Utes 58
#13 Wichita State Shockers 62, Evansville Aces 43

Big Ten Scores from Sunday:

Indiana 84, Rutgers 54
Iowa 74, Nebraska 46

Townhall Top of the Hour News

Local Weather - Sponsored By:

CLINTON WEATHER

Local News

DeWittDN on Facebook