ILLHoops Tournament: First Round

Reggie Hearn went ballistic!
His 32 pts helped Northwestern pull past Eastern.

On Thursday the ILLHoops Tournament kicked off with its First Round of games. The 4th through 13th teams squared off for a chance to advance to the Quarterfinals on Friday. Below are the results of each game:

#4 Illinois 63, #13 Northern Illinois 46

The game was a blowout, but it wasn't as bad for NIU as it could have been. Illinois shot poorly, going 21/54 (38.9%) from the field, but managed to go 34.6% from three. Brandon Paul (13), Joseph Bertrand (12), Tracy Abrams (11), and Tyler Griffey (10) all scored double-digits for the Illini. For Northern, Abdel Nader pulled down a double-double, scoring a game-high 20 and pulling down 13 boards. Darrell Bowie also had a decent game with 7 points and 9 rebounds. In the end, though, it wasn't enough for the Huskies, and a 2-23 tournament mercifully comes to an close.

#5 Bradley 65, #12 SIU Edwardsville 54

Bradley put up a solid effort in their home win over Edwardsville. Bradley outshot (43% from three to the Cougars' 35%) and outrebounded (42-31) SIUE by convincing margins. Dyricus Simms-Edwards lead the way for the Braves with 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Tyshon Pickett was right behind him with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Jerome Jones paced SIUE with 13 points and 8 rebounds.

#11 Chicago State 61, #6 Loyola 56

Christian Thomas' 13 points and 14 rebounds and Devon Turk's 13 points were not enough for Loyola to pull off the home win. Instead, it was the pinpoint accuracy from deep that helped Chicago State pull off the upset at Gentile Arena. Quinton Pippen lead the way, going 4 for 7 from three and finishing with 17 points. Corey Gray also came off the bench and hit two of three. in the end, the Cougars went 7/13 from three (53.8%). Jeremy Robinson also contributed 9 points and 9 rebounds.

#7 Northwestern 72, #12 Eastern Illinois 66

Everybody came to work for EIU. Josh Piper's 20 points lead the way, Sherman Blanford had 12 points and 8 rebounds, and Morris Woods pulled down a double-double with 11 and 10. The Panthers grossly outrebounded their opponent 36-19. But for Northwestern, all it took was Reggie Hearn. Hearn scorched EIU for 32 points, including 4 of 6 from three. Tre Demps also chipped in 11 points, but in the end Reggie was all the Wildcats needed to get the win.

#9 Southern Illinois 60, #8 UIC 45

SIU came out to play and UIC couldn't keep up. The Flames shot 30% from the field and 22% from three. Their only double-digit scorer was Josh Crittle, who picked up 10. For Southern, it was Jeff Early leading the charge with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Anthony Beane had 11 while Kendall Brown-Surles had 12 to go along with 6 assists.

So with those results in place, here are the matchups for Friday's Quarterfinals in Normal:

#1 Illinois State vs. #9 Southern Illinois

#2 DePaul vs. #7 Northwestern

#3 Western Illinois vs. #11 Chicago State

#4 Illinois vs. #5 Bradley