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.
Bracket courtesy of MVC-Sports.com.
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