Illinois St. 79, Bradley 59

Feb 13, 2013, 10:38 pm

NORMAL, Ill. -- Jackie Carmichael had 27 points and 13 rebounds as streaking Illinois State avenged a loss to Bradley two weeks ago with a 79-59 victory Wednesday night.

Tyler Brown added 22 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Redbirds (16-10, 7-7 Missouri Valley).

After starting 0-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference, Illinois State has won seven of its last eight games, with the lone loss coming to Bradley 83-77 on Jan. 29. During that stretch, the Redbirds won last Saturday at then-No. 16 Creighton (their first win over a ranked team since 1985) and came back last Wednesday from a 17-point deficit to beat Drake (their biggest comeback win since 2004).

Bradley (14-12, 6-8) got 15 points from Walt Lemon Jr., 11 from Jake Eastman and 10 from Tyshon Pickett.

Illinois State led by just two points with 9:42 remaining but closed the game on a 24-4 run.