The University of Illinois men’s basketball team showed off a new-look rotation and the NCAA Division II University of Illinois Springfield showcased its program against its sister school in an exhibition at the Prairie Capital Convention Center Sunday afternoon.
After a close first half, the Illini rolled to a 104-69 win in the first of five games for Illinois in Springfield while renovations are being completed at the State Farm Center in Champaign.
UIS tied the game twice in front of the crowd of 5,833. Senior Jamall Millison’s free throws made it 19-all with 10 minutes 50 seconds left on the clock. Junior Paxton Harmon knotted the contest at 23-all with a layup at the 7:22 mark.
The highlight for UIS was playing against its sister school and a Big Ten opponent seven miles from campus. Senior guard Davi Austin scored the Prairie Stars’ first seven points and finished with a team-high 14.
Senior transfer forward Jesse Tesmer collected 10 rebounds and 10 points. Redshirt freshman Vince Walker scored 10 points.
“We really appreciate the University of Illinois giving us this opportunity,” Walker said. “We wanted to make it more of a competitive game. I know everybody can say this, but if you took four minutes out of each half it was pretty competitive, but they had two huge spurts on us and we didn’t do a very good job of answering them.”
UIS opens the season Friday against Lake Superior State at the Division II Las Vegas Showdown in Nevada.
This story appeared online in The State Journal-Register on November 8, 2016.
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