NORMAL, Ill. - Daishon Knight scored a game-high 20 points, leading Illinois State (11-7, 3-3) to an 82-72 win against Interstate 74 rival Bradley (6-13, 1-5) Saturday evening at Redbird Arena.

Illinois State extended its home-court winning streak in the series to eight games, its longest in the 119-game series rivalry.

Saturday's game featured a surprising onslaught from behind the 3-point arc by both teams. Illinois State started the game hot from behind the arc and rode the long-range barrage to the finish. The Redbirds ended the game 13-of-25 (.520) from 3-point range, while Bradley's 12-for-27 (.444) represented its best 3-point field goal total since draining 13 against Creighton Jan. 7, 2012 and its most in a road game since draining 14 in a 111-110 double-overtime loss at Creighton March 1, 2008.

Bradley's sudden 3-point effort kept the Braves in the game, closing a 46-31 halftime deficit to 59-52 on Josh Cunningham's third trey of the game with 11:09 left. Paris Lee answered with a trey on the ensuing Redbirds possession and the Braves did not bet back to within single digits until an Auston Barnes transition trifecta with 48 seconds remaining to pull within 77-68.

Bradley's top three scorers Saturday were making their I-74 Rivalry debut: junior guard Warren Jones scored 19 points off the bench, Cunningham added a career-best 17 points and junior point guard Tramique Sutherland finished with 12 points, while sharing game-high honors with eight rebounds. Senior forward Auston Barnes also scored 12 points for the Braves.

Illinois State, which finished the game shooting 51.0 percent from the field, also had four double-digit scorers. In addition to Knight' Bobby Hunter scored 14 points, while Lee and Tony Wills both chipped in with 12.

For the 19th time in as many games this season, Bradley was without at least one
player who has made multiple starts this season: junior guard Omari Grier and
sophomore center Xzavier Taylor both remained in Peoria Saturday suffering from the
flu.

The Braves, who did welcome junior center Jermaine Morgan (high ankle sprain) back to the court for the first time in seven games, will hope to have everyone available for the first time this season when they return to action Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip at Southern Illinois.