Perkins’ 32 powers Iowa past Illinois in thriller
IOWA CITY, Iowa– Tony Perkins scored 25 of his career-high 32 points in the 2nd half, and Iowa edged Illinois 81-79 on Saturday to snap a five-game losing streak to the Combating Illini.Perkins shot 8 of
11 from the floor and missed out on simply among 16 free-throw attempts, all of them being available in the 2nd half. Kris Murray added 19 points and Filip Rebraca 13 for Iowa( 15-8, 7-5 Huge Ten ), which won its 3rd straight and seven of its last nine.Editor’s Picks
Matthew Mayer struck 4 3-pointers and scored 21 points for Illinois (16-7, 7-5), which had a three-game win streak snapped after can be found in having actually won 7 of its last 8. Dain Dainja added 17 points and nine rebounds, Jayden Epps had 14 of his 16 in the 2nd half and Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 11 points.Payton Sandfort’s 3-pointer snapped a tie, and Murray included a complimentary toss with 29 seconds left. Illinois’ RJ Melendez sank 2 complimentary throws prior to Perkins, with 10.1 remaining, made it a three-point edge with a free toss prior to his only miss from the line.Illinois raced down the floor
, however Epps was brief on a 3-point effort that Sandfort closed out on. Coleman Hawkins got the offending rebound and was fouled with 1.1 left. He made the first totally free throw before his intentional miss on the 2nd effort was gotten by Iowa’s Connor McCaffery.Iowa finished 26 of 30 at the line to 18 of 23 for the Illini, who devoted 14 turnovers. Iowa’s 81 points hit the Hawkeyes ‘season average versus a team giving up 63 a game.Murray hit a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer, however the Illini led 36-35. Neither team had a double-digit lead. There were 9 lead changes and nine ties.There was some controversy prior to the game between the Iowa authorities and an Illinois fan group after the group’s purchase of 200 tickets for Sunday’s match was canceled by Iowa’s athletic department.Illinois hosts Minnesota on Tuesday. Iowa is at top-ranked Purdue on Thursday.The Associated Press contributed to this story.