The outside shooting of the Niagara men’s basketball team trumped the inside play of the Illinois State Redbirds on Sunday afternoon at Redbird Arena.
The Purple Eagles hit 10 treys to overcame some dominating statistics in the paint by the Redbirds and handed ISU its first loss of the season, 76-68.
ISU (7-1) doiminated the paint, claiming a 49-28 edge in rebounding and scoring 42 points inside the paint to just 22 for the Purple Eagles.
Jackie Carmichael, a 6-foot-9 freshman, and 6-8 Dinma Odiakosa both had double-doubles for ISU, combining for 25 points and 26 boards. Kellen Thornton, a 6-7 sophomore, came off the bench for 10 points and eight rebounds, and 6-7 Tony Lewis had four points and three boards in only nine minutes.
But Niagara (7-4), which went 10-for-21 on 3s, used the play of its guards on the outside and pulled away in the tight game when it scored three consecutive 3-pointers midway through the second half.
Demetrius Williamson hit a trey from the right wing, and then Tyrone Lews, who led the Eagles with 26 points, hit a pair of 3s from the left wing in a span of 65 seconds. The Eagles went from a 53-53 tie to a 62-57 lead with 8:43 left in the game.
“Our transition defense (in the second half) cost us the game more than anything,” ISU coach Tim Jankovich said. “And obviously we picked a bad night to have a horiffic shooting night from the perimeter.”
The Redbirds didn’t against a Purple Eagles team that held them to 5-for-23 shooting from beyond the arc.
Osiris Eldridge, who went 0-3 on 3s and scored just three points in last season’s 70-56 loss to Niagara, didn’t fare much better this time around.
The leading scorer in the Missouri Valley Conference finished with 12 points, his lowest total of the season, on 5-of-18 shooting, including 2-of-11 from long distance.
“I just couldn’t make any shots,” Eldridge said. “Just seems like it’s always against Niagara that I seem to not shoot good.”
Niagara coach Joe Mihalich said his team did have a strategy for stopping Eldridge, by committee.
“We took turns, and it wasn’t the same guy guarding him all the time,” he said. “So he gets a different look.”
The shooting woes started early for the Redbirds, who went 1-for-11 on 3-point attempts in the first half, but only trailed 35-33. Niagara went 6-for-12 from long ranged but didn’t take control of the first half until Eldridge was on the bench for the final nine minutes with foul trouble.
ISU already had a 26-15 edge on the boards by intermission, including a 14-5 advantage on the offensive end.
“The stats don’t make sense,” Mihalich said. “We got outrebounded by 21, and you don’t win when that happens. You just don’t. They’re a load inside.”
When Eldridge returned for the second half, the Redbirds stayed close to the visitors, and had their last lead at 53-51 with 10:47 left.
“The game turned our way a little bit,” Jankovich said. “We seemed to be finding our rhythm again, and then, boom! . . . the defensive transition baskets.
“Also, we picked a bad time to play poorly, which was late (in the game). Turnovers, couldn’t get any shots to go down, and a lot of empty possessions. And now we’re out of time.”
Johnny Campos can be reached at 686-3214 or at jcampos@pjstar.com.
