The Illinois State Redbirds hosted the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars in a battle of small Illinois college basketball teams on Thursday night, and the Redbirds came away with a blowout 68-38 victory. With dominant defense helping to push them out to a 34-17 lead at halftime, Illinois State had little trouble with the Cougars.
Neither team was great offensively on Thursday, but the Redbirds were able to totally stifle the Cougars' offense. SIU-Edwardsville shot just 13-for-51 from the field, a brutal 25.1 percent figure for the game. They were equally inept on free throws, making just 7 of 17 shots from the charity stripe.
Forward Jackie Carmichael led Illinois State with a dominant performance over 19 minutes. Playing less than half of the game, Carmichael scored 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting while tallying 13 rebounds and 3 assists to boot. Fellow forward Jon Ekey added 12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Forward Mark Yelovich led the way for SIU-Edwardsville, scoring 18 of the team's 38 points.
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