3 Missouri Valley Conference Leaders Roll On

(St. Louis, MO) – The hottest teams in the Missouri Valley Conference kept their streaks alive on Wednesday. Co-leaders Illinois State and Wichita State were road winners and third place Northern Iowa took care of business at home, as those three teams have distanced themselves from the rest of the league.

Redbirds Escape & McIntosh Returns

Illinois State came away with a narrow 67-66 victory at Missouri State, but the biggest news out of Springfield, Missouri was the return of second leading scorer MiKyle McIntosh to the Redbird lineup.

The 6’7 junior is returning from knee surgery and played 22 minutes, scoring nine points for Illinois State (22-5, 14-1) who won its third straight game. Deontae Hawkins led the Redbirds with 19 points.

Missouri State (15-13, 6-9) lost their third MVC one-point decision and the Bears have lost four straight games. They are alone in sixth place, one game in front of seventh place Drake and Evansville.

Shockers Keep Rolling

Five Wichita State (24-1, 14-1) players scored in double figures, including Conner Frankamp’s team leading 14 points as the Shockers won their ninth straight game. The Shockers kept pace with Illinois State with an 87-68 win at Southern Illinois (14-14, 7-8), but it wasn’t as easy as the final score indicates.

Early in the second half, this was a four point game, and then head coach Gregg Marshall’s team went to the whip and scored 34 points during a ten minute stretch. Frankamp scored all 14 of his points in the second half. The 6’1 junior made all four of his shots from beyond the three-point line.

Joining Frankamp on the scoring parade were Markis McDuffie and Landry Shamet (13 points), and Shaquille Morris and Rauno Nurger (12).

Panthers Staying Hot

Bennett Koch’s stellar play continues and Northern Iowa (14-12, 9-6) won its fourth straight with a narrow home win over Bradley. Koch and Jeremy Morgan led the Panthers with 18 points apiece as the Panthers won for the ninth time in their last ten games.

Bradley (9-19, 4-10) led by three points at the half and out rebounded the Panthers, but fell 64-61 in Cedar Falls. Jo Jo McGlaston came off the bench to lead the Braves with 15 points.

Tied For Fourth

Loyola snapped a four game losing streak with a dominating defensive effort. The Ramblers (17-11, 7-8) shut down Indiana State 64-46. LUC held the Sycamores (10-17, 4-11) under 38 % from the floor and head coach Porter Moser told loyolaramblers.com that Wednesday’s defensive performance was this year’s best.

“That was one of our best defensive performances this season and we never let up. We found a way to win when we weren’t shooting the ball well there early. We defended like crazy. Our backs were to the wall and I was really pleased with how we answered the bell. Ben (Richardson) is the MVP of this game and he didn’t score a point. He did a phenomenal job on Brenton Scott, who is an all-league player.”

ISU’s Scott made just one of nine field goal attempts scoring a two points.

The Ramblers moved into a tie with Southern Illinois for fourth place in the Valley.

Illinois State and Wichita State’s only losses in this calendar year are to each other, and Northern Iowa’s only loss in their last ten games came at Illinois State. Saturday the Panthers visit the Shockers.

Do Good