Illinois Falls To Michigan, 74-60; College Roundup

Michigan 74, Illinois 60

CHAMPAIGN -- Brandon Paul had 15 points but it wasn't enough as Illinois fell to Michigan  Sunday, 74-60.

D.J. Richardson added 12 pionts with eight rebounds for the Fighting Illini who fell to 15-6 with a 2-5 Big Ten record.

The Illini are off until Thursday when they hit the road to play Michigan State.

EIU Men 78, SEMO 72

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois hit 12-of-13 free throws in overtime as the Panthers won their third straight game with a 78-72 win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday night in Lantz Arena.  EIU outscored SEMO 17-11 in the extra session.

EIU improved to 6-16 overall, 3-6 in the OVC.  SEMO dropped to 11-12, 3-6 in the OVC.  EIU returns to action next Saturday with a 7 p.m. game at SIU Edwardsville.

SEMO took a 54-53 lead in the ball game with 5:13 remaining as Tyler Stone scored on a lay-up.  Following an EIU turnover, Stone pushed the Redhawks lead to three points with another lay-up as Stone finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Morris Woods put EIU up 59-58 with 2:41 left in the second half before Stone converted a three point play to put SEMO up 61-39 with 1:38 left.  EIU had three offensive looks to tie the game in the final minute before Sherman Blanford was fouled grabbing an offensive rebound.  Blanford sank both free throws with six seconds left to push the game to overtime tied 61-61.

Blanford turned in a career night with 21 points and 16 rebounds.  He had nine offensive rebounds as EIU dominated play on the glass with a 50-34 rebounding margin including 18 offensive boards.

EIU Women 82, Southeast Missouri 62

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Seniors Mariah King and Ta’Kenya Nixon combined to score 42 points on Saturday afternoon, leading the Panther women’s basketball team to an 82-62 win over Southeast Missouri. EIU improves to 12-8 on the year and 6-2 in Ohio Valley Conference action.

After trailing by five (39-35) at the half, the Redhawks (8-12, 2-5 OVC) opened the second stanza with an 8-0 run to take their largest lead of the game, 43-39. EIU responded by going 7-for-11 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the foul line to engineer a 22-8 run, taking its first double-digit advantage, 61-51, with 11:29 left in the contest.

Southeast Missouri got within eight (61-53) on the ensuing possession, but the Panthers used another big run (19-3) to take their largest lead of the game, 80-56, with 3:21 left on the clock.

Nixon paced the Panther offense with a game-high 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting. The Michigan City, Ind., native also dished out a game-high eight assists and added five rebounds and three steals. King added 19 points while classmate Kelsey Wyss chipped in 12 points to round out the double-figure scoring.

SIUE Women 67, UT Martin 66

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Michaela Herrod hit the game-winning free throw with 5.8 seconds left in overtime as SIUE women's basketball outlasted UT Martin 67-66 Saturday at the Vadalabene Center.
 
SIUE evened its overall record at 10-10 and its Ohio Valley Conference record at 4-4. UT Martin fell to 10-12 and 5-3 in league play.
 
Raven Berry and Tierny Austin each turned in a double-double for the Cougars. Berry scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Austin scored 18 points and picked up 10 rebounds. Herrod missed a double-double by a single point with nine points and 11 rebounds. The three-point shooting of freshman Jessie Wendt of Teutopolis gave the Cougars an edge. She finished with a season-high 12 points off four three-pointers.
 
While it was 30th double-double of Berry's career, it was the first double-double of Austin's career.

UT Martin Men 65, SIUE 62

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE men's basketball erased a 10-point second-half deficit Saturday before falling to UT Martin 65-62 in Ohio Valley Conference action at Vadalabene Center.

"I just thought UT Martin outplayed us," SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester said. "(UT Martin) played hard on both ends of the floor, and we didn't."

The Cougars, 7-11 overall and 3-5 in OVC play, shot 33.3 percent (9-27) in the first half and connected on only 2 of 9 attempts from three-point range to find themselves down 34-28 at the break.

"Our guys didn't come out with a lot of energy at the start of the game," Forrester added. "I thought we played better down the stretch, but we dug ourselves too deep of a hole."

Millikin Women Lose Two Road Games

The Millikin women’s basketball team lost to first place Carthage College 66-44 January 26 in Kenosha, Wis.

Senior Nikki Tipsword (Newton, H.S.) led Millikin with 14 points. Bria Williams (Naperville, Neuqua Valley H.S.) had 11 points and six rebounds.

Millikin lost 92-68 at North Central College in Naperville January 23.  Millikin’s top scorer was Williams with 16 points. Tipsword had a team high 12 rebounds and eight points.

Millikin will host Elmhurst College Wednesday January 30 at 7:30 p.m.