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Dec. 24—ST. LOUIS — Kasparas Jakucionis scored 21 points, including the go-ahead basket with 28 seconds left and Illinois defeated Missouri 80-77 on Sunday in the annual Braggin’ Rights game between the nonconference rivals.
Illinois held the lead for nearly 30 minutes of game time, but a late rally by Missouri took the game down to the wire. An 11-0 run, capped by Trent Pierce’s layup gave the Tigers a 68-67 lead with about 4 minutes to go.
“After the last two years of pretty ugly basketball for the fans, I think we put on a great show today,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “This is a team 11 games into its growth and it is a tough and demanding schedule. There have been some unbelievable learning opportunities in this stretch. You are up 10 and they go on on a 11-0 run and that is what I call chaos and nobody does that better than Missouri.”
Jakucionis hit a straight-on 3-pointer for a 75-72 Illinois lead with 2 minutes remaining, but Missouri’s Tamar Bates hit a wide-open 3 in transition to tie it at 75 with 1:14 to go.
After the teams exchanged free throws, Jakucionis, a freshman who has six consecutive 20-point games, drove the right side of the line, stopped, pivoted and hit a turnaround jumper to put Illinois ahead 79-77 with 28 seconds left.
After a miss by Missouri, Kylan Boswell made one of two free throws for a three-point lead. Jacob Crews missed a 3-pointer that could have tied it for Missouri.
Boswell made 11 of 12 free throws and Jakucionis went 8 for 8 for Illinois, which was 22 of 23 from the line. Missouri made 28 free throws but shot only 76% from the line. There 43 total fouls in the game.
“I think we calmed down a little bit. We lost a bit of ourselves, but we talked and we got back to our game,” Jakucionis said. “I don’t feel any pressure, I am just trying to make plays for the team and make the right decisions. Kylen is the leader. He is helping by communicating. In the last 10 minutes, he was leading drives and getting easy points. I think he is…
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Author : Commercial-News, Danville, Ill.
Publish date : 2024-12-24 20:16:00
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