Illinois Suffers One Point Loss, Saint Louis Downs SIUE

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Published on November 19 2015 6:37 am
Last Updated on November 19 2015 7:14 am

Rodney Bullock's free throw with 43 seconds left gave Providence a 60-59 victory over Illinois on Wednesday night.

Illinois (1-2) missed three shots in the final 10 seconds. Malcolm Hill drove to the basket and missed a layup. Michael Finke grabbed the rebound but missed a dunk. The Fighting Illini again got the rebound but Hill missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

A 3-pointer by Ben Bentil and a layup by Ryan Fazekas to open the second half gave the Friars (2-0) the biggest lead of the night for either team at 7 points. Finke responded with 5 straight points and neither team led by more than 3 after that. Hill's jumper tied the game at 59 with 1:18 left before Bullock's free throw.

Bentil finished 18 points and 12 rebounds and Bullock added 13 points.

Jalen Coleman-Lands scored 17 points and Hill had 15 points plus 11 rebounds for Illinois.

 

Saint Louis Beats SIUE

For the second consecutive game SIUE men's basketball saw four players reach double figures in scoring Wednesday, but it wasn't enough. Saint Louis hung on for the 70-60 win in front of 3,931 at Vadalabene Center.

"First of all, I'd like to applaud our crowd," SIUE Head Coach Jon Harris said. "The atmosphere was incredible. Our guys fed on that. This can be an imposing environment, and that's something important.

"We as a program could not have asked for any more," Harris continued. "The community has really embraced me, the staff and our young group. It's encouraging and the guys really feed off of it."

SIUE dropped to 1-1 for the year. Saint Louis improved to 2-0 for the fourth consecutive year.

The Cougars rode the hot hand of Alton, Illinois, native Carlos Anderson to build an 18-10 lead by the 12:15 mark of the first half. The true freshman scored eight of the Cougars' points and connected on a pair of three-pointers.