Final Score (W-L)          1   2   F
Bradley (4-23, 2-12 MVC)  26  34  60
ISU (16-11, 10-4 MVC)     39  36  75
Attendance: 7,888 | Officials: Gerry Pollard, Don Daily, Jeff Malham

The Lead
Illinois State scored the first six points of the game and never trailed en route to its seventh win in eight games. Bradley trimmed a 15-point first-half deficit to one, 43-42, with 14:32 left, but the Redbirds answered with an 11-2 run to regain control.

Series Update
Illinois State earns its fifth straight series win and its 13th victory in the last 15 games of the I-74 Rivalry. The Redbirds have won nine straight in the series at Redbird Arena as Illinois State improves to 37-18 all-time at home against Bradley. The Braves still maintain a 63-59 lead in the all-time series, which dates to the 1904-05 season for the oldest series against another collegiate program in Bradley history.

Leaders
Bradley freshman guard Ronnie Suggs scored a game-high 16 points, while Luuk van Bree added 14 points for the Braves. Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye scored 11 points off the bench and sophomore forward Donte Thomas snared a game-high 10 rebounds. MiKyle McIntosh made 8-of-11 free throw attempts to pace four Illinois State players in double-figures with 14 points. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell added 13 points for the Redbirds, while Deontae Hawkins and Parris Lee scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.

First-Half Summary
Illinois State jumped out to a 6-0 lead as Bradley came up empty on its first six possessions – 0-for-3 with three turnovers. The Redbirds stretched the early lead to eight on two occasions, the last at 19-11, before Bradley rallied to within 22-19 on a Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye 3-pointer with 8:28 left in the half. Illinois State closed the half with a 17-7 surge, however, as Bradley missed 5-of-8 field goal attempts with six turnovers in the final 8:28. Illinois State (9-11) also outscored Bradley (0-2) by nine from the free throw line in the first half. Bradley committed 13 first-half turnovers, compared to five for Illinois State, and the Redbirds converted the advantage into a 10-3 margin in points off turnovers.

Second Half Start
After Antoine Pittman's jumper with 3 seconds left ended the first half, Bradley scored the first nine points of the second half, closing a 39-24 deficit late in the first half to 39-35 on a Luuk van Bree 3-point play with 18:06 left in the game. Ronnie Suggs pulled the Braves to within 43-42 by draining a 3-pointer with 14:32 left, but Justin McLoud answered with a corner trey at 14:21 to start an 11-2 Illinois State run to regain a 54-44 advantage with 12:37 left.

Four Fouls in 14 Seconds
After Bradley scored the first four points of the second half, Illinois State called timeout with 19:13 left in the game. Coming out of the timeout, Bradley was hit with four personal fouls, one resulting from a double technical, in the next 14 seconds. Three of the fouls, including the technical, were committed by Donte Thomas, sending him to the bench with four fouls with 18:59 left in the game.

Van Bree's Treys
Bradley freshman forward Luuk van Bree entered the game leading all MVC freshmen with 38 3-point field goals. The 6-foot-9 forward made his first three 3-point attempts Sunday to become the fifth freshman in Bradley history to make at least 40 treys in a season, the first since Sam Maniscalco set the school freshman record with 55 treys in 2007-08.

Bell Out
Bradley senior guard Ka'Darryl Bell missed both games in the I-74 Rivalry, sitting out the Jan. 20 game in Peoria with a fractured right wrist and Sunday's game in Normal with a right shoulder injury. Bell, who has missed nine games due to injury this season, is listed as day-to-day moving forward. His absence Sunday left the Braves with 10 freshmen among 11 active players.

Antoine Pittman Injury Update
Bradley freshman guard Antoine Pittman suffered a sprained neck during a scrum for a loose ball midway through the first half Wednesday night against Loyola. He was taken directly to the locker room and did not return to the floor until 14:53 remaining in the game. Despite neck stiffness, Pittman scored all of his five points and grabbed all of his career-best eight rebounds in the second half against the Ramblers. Pittman was in the starting lineup Sunday at Illinois State, finishing with eight points in 38 minutes.

Youthful PT
With senior guard Ka'Darryl Bell unavailable for action Sunday due to a shoulder injury, Bradley's 11 active players included 10 true freshmen. As a result, Bradley played the entire 40 minutes with at least four freshmen on the court and 14:52 with five freshmen on the floor. Bradley easily leads the nation in freshman playing time and increased its total to 4,505 of 5,450 possible minutes (82.7 percent) played by freshmen this season. Illinois State did not play a freshman Sunday, the fifth time this season Bradley's opponent did not play any freshmen.

Non-Scholarship Minutes
Among the first three players off the bench for the Braves Sunday were Bradley's two non-scholarship players, freshmen Peter Hanley and D'Angelo McBride. Bradley did not use a fourth reserve until Scottie James checked in with 4:09 left in the game. The duo of Hanley (11) and McBride (3) combined for 14 minutes Sunday.

Up Next
Bradley has four games remaining in the regular season and the Braves will return to action Wednesday with a 7 p.m. game at Southern Illinois. Bradley will close out the home schedule by hosting Drake Feb. 20 (7 p.m.) and Evansville Feb. 23 (8 p.m.). The Feb. 20 game versus Drake will be the 1,000th Missouri Valley Conference game in Bradley Basketball history.