NORMAL, Ill. -- Indiana State leading scorers Cooper Neese and Cameron Henry combined for just eight points as Illinois State picked up an 86-66 victory on their Senior Day Saturday at Redbird Arena. The two teams will now turn their sights to Arch Madness next Thursday in St. Louis as they will rematch in the opening round of the State Farm MVC Tournament.
 
Three Sycamores scored in double-figures led by Zach Hobbs who put in 15 points on 5-for-11 from 3-point range while Julian Larry went 4-for-5 from the field for 12 points. Forward Kailex Stephens finished the game with 11 points and four rebounds in the loss.
 
It was back-and-forth for the first 15 minutes of action as neither team was able to push their leads to more than four points. Stephens scored his ninth point of the game with just over five minutes left in the half on a dunk on a Neese dime to tie the game at 30.
 
Indiana State (11-19, 4-14 MVC) turned the ball over 14 times in the game but did so 10 times in the first half which helped fuel a 14-6 Redbird run to close out the first half, giving ILS a 44-36 lead heading into the locker room.
 
Antonio Reeves scored 16 of his game high 28 points in the opening half but the Redbirds (12-19, 5-13 MVC) picked up 20 points from Howard Fleming Jr. who entered the game averaging five points.
 
After each team shot 50 percent in the first half it was Illinois State that turned up the defensive pressure in the final 20 minutes as the Sycamores finished the game 39 percent, including 31 percent in the second half.
 
Illinois State extended their lead to 53-36 before the first media break in the second half after reeling off a 9-0 run. The Redbirds led by as many as 25 points midway through the half before both teams emptied the benches.
 
Reeves shot 10-for-16 from the field en route to his 28 points while Mark Freeman also added 17 points for ILS off the bench. Overall Illinois State had seven players enter the scoring column as they finished the game shooting 54 percent (34-63) from the field and 40 percent from deep (9-22).
 
UP NEXT
The Sycamores head to St. Louis next week for the start of the State Farm MVC Tournament. No. 9 seed Indiana State will face No. 8 seed Illinois State in the opening round on Thursday at Enterprise Center with tipoff set for 7 p.m. ET. For complete information on Arch Madness, visit the Championship Central page.
 
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