clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Missouri Valley Tournament 2012: Illinois State Advances To Championship Game With 65-64 Upset

The Illinois St. Redbirds beat the No. 15 Wichita St. Shockers, 65-64, on Saturday to advance to Sunday's 2012 Missouri Valley Championship Game.

In a game that lived up to its "Arch Madness" billing, Illinois State completed an impressive comeback, outscoring the shocked Shockers 37-28 in the second half. In the first half, Wichita State took a 36-28 lead and held the Redbirds offense to just a 29.2 field goal percentage.

G Tyler Brown (25 pts, 6 reb) and F Jackie Carmichael (12 pts, 11 reb) led the team through a hot-shooting second half. The Redbirds actually managed a better shooting percentage from beyond the line, hitting 5 of 13 three-pointers (38.5%) compared 12 of 32 two-pointers (37.5%) in the second half.

The surge proved sufficient enough to finally shut down F Ben Smith (14 pts, 13 reb) and give ILSU the win on a pair of Brown free throws. The Redbird will square off against the Creighton Bluejays on Sunday, looking for another upset win.

2012bracket_medium

Bracket courtesy of MVC-Sports.com.

For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago. For the complete bracket and schedule, you can click here. For more on college basketball, you can check out SB Nation's college basketball news hub.