LOUISVILLE, KY - Free throws turned out to be the difference in the University of Illinois Springfield men's basketball team's 72-62 loss to no. 24 Bellarmine Thursday night at Knights Hall.
Both teams made the same number of field goals (25) and three pointers (6) but the Knights shot 16-for-23 from the free throw line while the Prairie Stars went 6-for-10, which turned out to be the difference.
Senior
Jamall Millison (Bolingbrook, Ill.) scored a season-high and team-high 20 points on the night. The 6-2 guard shot 8-for-11 from the floor including a 4-for-7 mark from three point range. Junior
Richard Freeman (Indianapolis, Ind.) turned in the only other double figure performance for UIS with 14 points. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
The two teams went toe-to-toe in the opening minutes. Senior
JJ Cravatta (Streator, Ill.) converted an old fashioned three point play at the 14:44 minute mark to give the Prairie Stars a 11-9 lead. After the Knights tied the game on a layup from George Suggs, the Prairie Stars scored five straight including a three pointer from Millison to take a five point lead, 16-11, with 13 minutes left in the half.
Just minutes later, UIS knocked down three pointers on consecutive possessions by Millison and freshman
Zach Steinberg (Wildwood, Mo.) to take its largest lead of the night, 22-15. With the score 24-17 in favor of the Prairie Stars, the host Knights took control of the game with a 16-2 run. UIS shot just 1-for-11 during the run and 0-for-7 from three point range.
The teams traded buckets in the final three minutes of the half as the Knights took a 43-35 into halftime.
UIS came storming back in the second period behind a pair of buckets from Freeman to pull within three, 46-43, nearly four minutes into the half. The visitors hung around but couldn't quite take the momentum back from the Knights. The Springfield squad was just a couple possessions away from tying the game but the Knights converted the buckets when they needed, eventually icing the game away for the 72-62 win.
The Prairie Stars outshot the Knights in the second half, making 40 percent of their shots to Bellarmine's 31 percent.
UIS stays on the road to face Southern Indiana on Saturday at 3:15 p.m.
