Eldridge Leads Illinois State Into Semifinals of Missouri Valley Tourney

St. Louis, MO, United States (AHN) – While it was a slow start, Osiris Eldridge reminded everybody Friday night why he was the Missouri Valley Conference preseason player of the year.

Eldridge was a dismal 2-for-9 in the first half, and missed his first three shots of the second half, before sparking Illinois State to a 69-65 victory over Indiana State in the quarterfinals of the MVC tournament at Scottrade Center.

Eldridge was 2-for-12, and 0-for-5 from behind the arc, before draining a trey with 9:56 remaining to give the Redbirds a 48-46 lead.

“It got me going,” Eldridge said. “I was just trying to find my shot throughout the game.”

The 6-foot-3 Illinois State senior guard followed that up with a jumper, and then a sick reverse layup with 7:00 on the clock to give his team a 55-46 lead following a subsequent free throw.

He finished with a team-high 17 points, and the Redbirds advanced in the Valley tournament to face the second-seeded Wichita State Shockers.

“The first round is the toughest,” said Illinois State Tim Jankovich. “Everybody feels the most pressure, and that basket gets a lot smaller.”

After shooting the ball about as poorly as they could, going without a field goal for more than eight minutes, the Redbirds found their groove before halftime.

Illinois State, the No. 3 seed in this weekend’s Valley tournament, was 5-for-27 from the floor before a 12-0 run late in the half tied No. 6 Indiana State 28-28 at halftime.

“I had seen the opportunity to let the game come to me and I just took it,” said Austin Hill, who scored eight of his 17 points during the 12-0 run. “That was a big momentum for us. ? That gave us a boost in the second half.”

Dwayne Lathan had nine points at the break and the Sycamores (17-14) dominated the first 16 minutes of the game.

“Indiana State played tremendous out of the gate,” Jankovich said. “Because of that, I was extremely proud of our guys to fight our way back and tie it at the half.”

Indiana State coach Kevin McKenna said his team’s plan was to change up the defense on the Illinois State guards to “keep them off-balance.”

“Our coaches put together something we thought would be effective, and it was,” said McKenna, whose Sycamores were hampered by a mid-game injury to their best defensive player Harry Marshall. “We had a lot of things going when it was 28-16. We had them on their heels at both ends.”

Marshall held Eldridge to 10-of-39 shooting in three games. Lathan finished with a game-high 27 points. “He was tremendous throughout the whole game,” Eldridge said of Lathan. “He really put it on us and did a good job for them.”

The teams went back and forth before Illinois State (22-9) was able to steal the momentum.

Center Jackie Carmichael had a thunderous dunk on a putback of a missed Eldridge layup to tie things again at 43-43 with 12:07 remaining.

“Jackie, from the day he stepped on campus, we’ve been seeing plays like that,” Eldridge said. “He’s everywhere and he gives us that boost every day.”

Despite a pair of late 3-pointers from Lathan, the Redbirds converted just enough free throws to keep the Sycamores at bay.

“They hit some amazing shots late to still make a game of it despite our efforts,” said Jankovich, whose team converted 12 Indiana State turnovers into 20 points.

Earlier in the day, top seed Northern Iowa held off a game Drake team for a 55-40 win.

No. 5 Bradley rolled over the four seed, Creighton, 81-62. No. 2 Wichita State pulled away late from the free throw line for a 73-63 win over No. 7 Missouri State.

Saturday afternoon’s semifinals will have Bradley going up against UNI at 1:30, and the Shockers will take on the Redbirds at 4.

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