Creighton University
Illinois State
Redbirds Dominate Glass, Top CU Men's Basketball 68-54
2/27/2008 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORMAL, Ill. -- Senior Anthony Slack had 15 points and a career-high 20 rebounds to lead the Illinois State team to a 68-54 win over Creighton on Wednesday night. The Redbirds dominated the glass to a 45-24 tune, which resulted in 27 second-chance points, while Slack's 20 boards were the most by a Redbird player since Ron DeVries in 1974.
Creighton is now 19-9 overall and 9-8 in the MVC, while the Redbirds improved to 21-8 and 12-5 in the MVC with one game left in the regular-season for both squads.
Illinois State hit four three-pointers in the first four minutes to jump to a 12-7 lead, their largest of the first half. The first two treys came from senior Levi Dyer, while the final two were from sophomore Osiris Eldridge.
Creighton got on a scoring binge with its newcomers, which would score the team's final 28 points of the first half. Following a P'Allen Stinnett free throw, Cavel Witter drained three straight baskets before Stinnett's breakaway dunk and jumper and two charity shots by Booker Woodfox gave CU a 20-17 lead after just nine minutes.
Creighton's run continued before ISU big man Slack picked up his play. Slack scored three baskets from point-blank range, and after an Eldridge trey the 'Birds went back ahead 28-26 on a tip-in from Dinma Odiakosa with four minutes left in the opening half. Down by three in the closing seconds of the first half, Woodfox drained a trey from the right wing -- just as he did on Saturday to beat Oral Roberts -- to knot the score at 31-all at the break. ISU owned the glass 24-10, including 10 boards by Slack in the first half.
Illinois State opened the second half on an 8-2 run to take its largest lead at 39-33. Emmanuel Holloway hit a three-pointer to give ISU the lead, and after a Nick Bahe lay-in the hosts got a reverse lay-up by Eldridge and Dyer's third trifecta of the night with 16:16 to play.
After a Woodfox trey got CU within 39-36, ISU embarked on a 11-3 run keyed by senior point guard Boo Richardson. Richardson hit a rare trey, and after three foul shots by Dyer would add a second trey and breakway lay-up to push the lead to 50-39 with 12:01 left.
A three-pointer by CU senior Pierce Hibma with 5:23 left got the Jays within 58-49, but that was as close as CU got down the stretch.
Creighton was led in scoring by Woodfox, who scored 12 points, while Watts added 10 with a team-best five rebounds. The Jays shot 41.2 percent from the field on the night, including 7-of-26 from three-point range and 5-of-10 at the line.
ISU had four players in double-figures, led by 15 each from Slack and Eldridge. Dyer and Richardson both had 13 points, while Richardson added seven assists and three steals. Slack's 20 rebounds -- 10 on each end -- keyed CU's worst backboard deficit of the season.
Creighton closes the regular-season on Saturday night with a 7:05 pm home game against Bradley. Following the contest CU seniors Pierce Hibma, Nick Bahe and Dane Watts will be honored. The game can be heard on KXSP (Big Sports 590 AM) and will not be televised in the Omaha area.
NOTES: Booker Woodfox extended his streak of double-figure scoring nights to 10. It the nation's longest active streak by a reserve ...Anthony Slack's 20 rebounds were four more than the previous Redbird Arena record by an ISU player, but one behind the overall record set by former Saint Louis star Anthony Bonner.
