Humrichous leads Evansville to 1st-round upset of Illinois State, 59-53

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- — Ben Humrichous scored 15 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and his personal 8-2 run in the final eight minutes secured Evansville's wire-to-wire, 59-53 upset win over Illinois State in the first-round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament on Thursday night.

Evansville came into the tournament having lost its final seven games of the regular season and is the 10th tournament seed. The Purple Aces advance to face second-seeded Drake (25-6) in a second-round game Friday.

Evansville scored the first five points of the game and held a 25-21 lead at the break. Illinois State got within three points on a 3 by Johnny Kinziger with 11:10 left that made it 37-34. Chuck Bailey III scored at the basket to make it 39-34 and Humrichous hit two 3-pointers sandwiched around a pair of free throws during an 8-2 run that put the put the Purple Aces up by 11, 47-36 with 6:44 left.

Humrichous hit 4 of 16 from the field, including 3 of 12 from long range, and was 4-for-4 from the free throw line to lead Evansville (16-16). Yacine Toumi added 10 points and eight boards.

Myles Foster scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Illinois State (15-17). Kinziger added 12 points and nine rebounds and Malachi Poindexter added 10 points.

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