Daishon Knight scored a game-high 17 points to go along with nine rebounds, as he led the Illinois State Redbirds to a 62-55 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies in the second round of the College Basketball Invitational at Redbird Arena.
For the Redbirds (18-15), John Jones added 12 points and Bobby Hunter and Nick Zeisloft each pulled down eight rebounds. The Redbirds will have to wait for the conclusion of other second-round action to determine their next opponent.
Antwan Space led the Aggies (18-16) with 15 points, Jamal Jones scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Kourtney Roberson chipped in with 11 points.
Both teams struggled from the field to open the contest. Illinois State shot just 35.5 percent from the field and missed all but one of its 10 shots from beyond the arc. Texas A&M was even worse from the floor, hitting on 32.1 percent of its field goal tries and just 2-of-13 from 3-point range, as the teams entered halftime knotted at 27-27.
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After the break, the Redbirds found their range, as they connected on 54.2 percent of their field goal tries in the second half, including 3-of-8 from beyond the arc.
The Aggies continued to have difficulty putting the ball in the basket, as they hit on just 36 percent of their shots from the field in the final twenty minutes.
With the game tied at 44 with eight minutes to play, the Redbirds ran six straight points to take the lead for the rest of the game.
The Redbirds had the edge on points in the paint, 30-26.
Illinois State also out-rebounded Texas A&M, 41-35.
[SportsNetwork.com]
