PEORIA, Ill. - Sophomore guard Walt Lemon, Jr. came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points, but Illinois State (18-12, 9-9 MVC) overcame some cold shooting to pull out a 54-53 win against the Interstate 74 rival Braves (7-24, 2-16 MVC) Saturday afternoon at Carver Arena.

With its seventh consecutive win in the series, Illinois State joined a logjam of teams that will tie for third in the final Valley regular-season standings.  With Indiana State still in action against Creighton in the final league game of the day, five teams are currently tied for third and could be joined by the Sycamores if they pull out a home win against Creighton. 

If Indiana State knocks off Creighton, Bradley will face Missouri State in Thursday's 8:30 p.m. game between the seven and 10 seeds at the State Farm MVC Tournament.  If Creighton earns the road win, Bradley will take on Drake in the 7-10 game in Thursday's first round.

With Bradley trailing 54-52, Lemon drew a foul near midcourt with 3.1 seconds remaining and had an opportunity to force the tie, but missed the second free throw attempt.  Jon Ekey collected the rebound and was fouled with 2.2 seconds remaining.  After missing his first free throw attempt, Ekey missed the second intentionally.  Bradley's desperation attempt at the win came after the horn, but the officials determined the clock started to quickly after Ekey's miss and allowed the Braves to inbound from the backcourt with 0.4 seconds left, temporarily delaying the final outcome.

While Lemon made 7-of-13 field goal attempts, he was the only Brave to shoot better than 33 percent from the field, as the rest of the team combined to make just 11-of-46 (.239) field goal attempts.

Illinois State also struggled  from the floor, making just 17-of-48 field goal attempts.  The Redbirds, however, made 14-of-20 free throw attempts and outscored the Braves by three at the charity stripe.

Jackie Carmichael led the visitors with 16 points and 14 rebounds.  Ekey added 10 points, while Dyricus Simms-Edwards scored 14 for Bradley to complete the double-digit scoring.