Hill Guides Illinois To Win Over Minnesota, College Roundup

Malcolm Hill had 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead a late surge by Illinois to beat Minnesota 76-71 in overtime on Saturday night, ending an eight-game losing streak on the road for the Fighting Illini.

Maverick Morgan added 14 points, Kendrick Nunn scored 13 points and Michael Finke grabbed 16 rebounds for the Illini (10-10, 2-5 Big Ten), who used a 16-0 run that started with 2:03 left in regulation to take over the game.

Joey King had 20 points and Nate Mason added 19 points for the Golden Gophers (6-14, 0-8), who lost their ninth straight game. They tied a program record with 36 attempts from 3-point range, making 11.

Jordan Murphy, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds, made a layup with 4:03 left to give the Gophers a 59-55 lead. But they let the Illini creep back, delighting the members of the Orange Krush student section who took a road trip from Illinois.

The last time Illinois won on the opponent's home floor was Feb. 7, 2015, at Michigan State.

Overtime was no contest. Hill swished a 3-pointer with 3:38 remaining to give the Illini a 65-60 advantage, and the Gophers essentially gave up after that. King's layup with 1:07 left ended a stretch of 7:56 without a basket made by Minnesota from the field.

The Illini streaked their way through this one, with spurts of 13-0 and 6-0 in the first half and then a 10-0 run midway through the second half that pushed their lead to 53-46, their biggest of the game.

Mason put an end to that, making consecutive 3-pointers to get his team right back in it and scoring 11 straight points for the Gophers to give them the lead back. The Illini committed a couple of costly turnovers in the closing minutes and were in dire need of Nunn's clutch 3-pointer with 1:05 left that cut the lead to 60-58.

Nunn fouled Dupree McBrayer, but he missed the one-and-one free throw. Hill sank two foul shots on the other end to tie the game with 32 seconds left, setting up the Gophers for the last possession. Mason had the ball, dribbled the clock down and stepped back for a 3-pointer from the wing that bricked off the rim.

So, despite limiting the Illini to a mere seven points over the last 10-plus minutes of the second half, the Gophers headed to overtime.

This season has been quite the struggle for both of these teams, each carrying a pair of Big Ten losses by 25 points or more and multiple defeats by mid-major foes. Minnesota coach Richard Pitino recently acknowledged he anticipated the year-three rebuilding to be hard but not this bad, and Illinois coach John Groce said this week this has been the toughest season of his career. Both programs are a long way from where they used to be.

Murphy picked up two fouls in the first 3:27, prompting Pitino to pull the freshman and keep him on the bench for almost all of the rest of the first half.

The crowd, which has had so few highlights to savor here this season, gave the Gophers some hearty roars in the early parts of the game as they aggressively shot and moved the ball on their way to building a 24-14 lead. They began to play too loose, though, and the worst-shooting team in the Big Ten was again hindered by its rebounding weakness.

EIU 87, Austin Peay 86

A.J. Riley went coast-to-coast to make a driving lay-up with 0.3 seconds left in overtime to give Eastern Illinois an 87-86 win at Austin Peay on Saturday night in the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tenn.

Riley finished with 18 points including the final eight points for EIU in overtime as the Panthers improved to 7-13 overall, 4-4 in the OVC.  APSU fell to 9-13 overall, 2-5 overall.

After holding off Austin Peay for most of the second half, EIU pushed its lead to 72-64 on a 3-pointer by Cornell Johnston with 2:26 to play.  Riley knocked home a pair of free throws that gave the Panthers a commanding 74-65 lead with 1:46 to play.

APSU closed the game with a 10-1 run to tie the game at 75-75 at the end of regulation.  Josh Robinson had two baskets and three free throws to spark the run with Zach Glotta banging home a 3-pointer.

EIU led by one in the final 33 seconds of overtime and looked like they might have sealed the win when Luke Norman pulled down a rebound on a missed Glotta 3-pointer.  

EIU was called for a turnover giving APSU the ball with 11 seconds left.  Robinson was fouled and sank both free throws to put the Governors up by one with 5.7 seconds in the game.  Robinson finished with 20 points after scoring 39 on Thursday in the APSU win over SIU Edwardsville.

After the Robinson free throws, EIU pushed the ball up the court for Riley to hit the game winner.  Riley was 10-of-14 from the free throw line and added seven assists.

EIU led 37-32 at the half as both teams shot below 40 percent for the half.  Both teams shot over 50 percent in the second half with EIU finishing the night at 47 percent.  APSU shot 43 percent.

Trae Anderson led EIU with 20 points while Johnston added ten.  The Panthers won the battle on the glass with a 47-37 margin.  Anderson just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.

APSU had two big offensive rebounds in the final minutes on missed free throws to keep possessions alive.  Chris Horton had 15 rebounds to go with 22 points.  Jared Savage added 11 points off the bench.

EIU hosts UT Martin on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Lantz Arena.

Murray State 70, SIUE 54

Murray State converted on 25 of 32 free throw attempts Saturday, defeating SIUE 70-54 in Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball at the CFSB Center.

SIUE dropped to 1-7 in the OVC and 4-16 overall. Murray State improved to 10-10 overall and 4-3 in the OVC.

"That's a good defensive team," SIUE Head Coach Jon Harris said. "I give Murray a lot of credit. This is one of the headliners in our league. This is the team we're chasing. They came out and competed a little harder than we did tonight."

A balanced scoring attack from SIUE wasn't enough to overcome a quick Murray State start. The Racers sprinted out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back.

"They came out as the aggressors and put us on our heels," Harris added. "They threw the first punch and it took us a while to hit back."

Four players scored eight points apiece to lead the Cougars. Carlos Anderson, C.J. Carr, Grant Fiorentinos and Keenan Simmons each scored eight. Mike Chandler scored a career-best six points.

SIUE outshot Murray State for the first half and for the game. The Cougars were 12 for 27 (44.4 percent) from the field compared to just 40.9 percent (9-22) for the Racers over the game's first period, but Murray State was 15 of 16 at the free throw line during the first half and led 35-25 at the break.

Austin Peay 80, EIU 45 (Women)

Eastern Illinois women's basketball fell behind early due to cold shooting and could not comeback late falling to Austin Peay 80-45.

With the loss EIU drops to 1-19 and 0-8 in the OVC while Austin Peay improves to 7-13 and 5-2 in the OVC.

Phylicia Johnson led all scorers with 18 points and five rebounds, but the Governors utilized strong play underneath the rim to outscore EIU 46-10 in the paint.

Austin Peay raced out of the gates scoring the first eight points of the game. EIU did not score their first field goal of the game until the 2:51 mark in the first period as Johnson drained a three-pointer to make it 14-5.

It looked as if EIU would finish the first period within shooting distance after five quick points pulled the Panthers within eight points as APSU led 18-10 with 33 seconds left. Austin Peay closed out the first period with a quick jumper followed by a steal and a layup as the buzzer sounded from Shelby Olszewski to put the Governors up 22-10.

It was the same story for EIU in the second period as Austin Peay opened the second period on an 11-1 run. The Panthers did not score a bucket until the 3:24 mark as Johnson broke the Governors run with a jumper to make it 33-13. The Panthers scored the final four points of the second quarter to make it 34-17 at halftime.

EIU shot 25 percent in the first half while Austin Peay finished the first half shooting 51.9 percent.