BEARS LONG LAYOFF A FACTOR, FALL AT ILLINOIS STATE 87-68
Justin Black paced the Bears with 21 points at Illinois State.

BEARS LONG LAYOFF A FACTOR, FALL AT ILLINOIS STATE 87-68

12/16/2012 7:45:00 PM

Box Score Boxscore

NORMAL, Ill. – Sunday was Morgan State's first game in 15 days, and the rust was obvious early on.
 
The Bears turned the ball over 24 times, including 15 in the first half, as Illinois State pulled away with an 87-68 victory on Sunday at Redbirds Arena.
 
Jackie Carmichael finished with a game-high 30 points (12-13 FT) and nine rebounds to pace the Redbirds. Jon Ekey added 18 points, and Bryant Allen had 13 to help improve Illinois State's record to 7-3.
 
The Redbirds shot 50 percent from the field and converted 25 of 32 free throws for the night.
 
The Bears just looked a little bit out of sync for most of the contest.

Morgan State trailed 47-29 at the break and was outscored 10-3 to open the second half. A pair of free throws by Carmichael gave the Redbirds its largest lead at 57-32.
 
Morgan State began outscrapping the Redbirds after the first media timeout and used a 12-2 run to cut Illinois State's lead to 59-44 following a putback by DeWayne Jackson and a fastbreak dunk by Shaquille Duncan with 11:19 remaining.
 
Justin Black, who scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the second half, nailed a 3-pointer from the corner and a fastbreak slam by Jackson cut the lead to 64-54 with 9:42 to play.
 
The Bears cut the lead to 10 (70-60) one more time when Black buried a long 3-pointer at the 6:58 mark. Illinois State responded with back-to-back two-on-one fastbreak baskets and a 3-pointer by Ekey gave the Redbirds breathing room with an 81-63 lead with just over 3 minutes remaining.
 
While the Bears were struggling to score, especially in the paint early on. The Bears shot just 43 percent (22-51) from the field, six of the makes were from 3-point territory (6-16).  
 
Morgan State trailed 7-2 early on as the Redbirds nailed their first four shots of the game. Following a timeout by Coach Bozeman, the Bears trimmed the lead to 10-8 (15:45). Hubbard's baseline layup tied the game at 10.
 
Hubbard finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Tauron Bailey added nine points.
 
Illinois State answered with an 11-5 run and Jonny Hill's backdoor dunk gave the Redbirds a 21-15 lead.
 
The Redbirds held a 47-29 lead at halftime.
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