Lee sets career steals record as Redbirds trounce Bradley

Posted on January 18, 2017
Paris Lee
Paris Lee became the all-time steals leader at Illinois State during Wednesday’s win at Peoria. (Photo courtesy GoRedbirds.com)

By WJBC Staff

PEORIA – Senior guard Paris Lee became Illinois State’s career-steals leader by matching a career-best six steals to lead Illinois State’s defensive efforts in a 69-49 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Bradley Wednesday night at Carver Arena. 

ISU (15-4 overall) won its eighth-straight game and improved to 7-0 – alone in first place – in the MVC. The Redbirds have now won five-straight road contests. Meanwhile, Bradley (8-12 overall) fell to 3-4 in the league. Illinois State shot 25-for-53 (47.2 percent) from the field and held Bradley to a 15-for-47 (31.9 percent) shooting performance. The Redbirds outrebounded BU, 38-32, and ISU earned nearly twice as many assists (20-to-11). 

Deontae Hawkins scored a game-high 20 points and collected 10 rebounds to record his fifth-career double-double and his third of the season. Phil Fayne also grabbed 10 rebounds and added nine points, while Lee scored 14 points, forced six steals and dished five assists. Antoine Pittman was the only Brave who reached double-figure scoring, with 11 points. 

After Bradley took a 2-0 lead on a Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye layup at the 19:08 mark, the Redbirds did not score a field goal until a DJ Clayton layup at the 15:59 mark which followed a Tony Wills block. However, the Redbirds held Bradley to one field goal during the opening four minutes, and Clayton’s layup sparked a 6-0 run to give ISU a 7-2 lead with 14:16 remaining. Bradley pulled within 10-6, but the Redbirds responded with a 26-5 run to build a 36-11 advantage at the 2:42 mark on back-to-back Hawkins 3-pointers. 

With 4:57 remaining, Lee forced a steal from Jayden Hodgson to secure the Illinois State men’s basketball career-steals record. Lee passed Ron Jones who held the previous record of 222 since 1980. Lee now has 225 career-steals and is the NCAA active-career leader. Bradley scored six-unanswered points to end the half, and Illinois State led by 19 points at the half, 36-17. 

The Redbirds extended their lead to 51-24 following an 8-0 run before the Braves responded with a 9-3 run which made the score 54-33 at the 10:34 mark. Illinois State answered with a 6-2 run, capped by a Daouda “David” Ndiaye dunk. After Illinois State led by as many as 27 points midway through the second half, Bradley cut its final deficit to 20 points.

Looking to remain undefeated in the MVC, Illinois State returns to Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena Saturday to host Drake at 7 p.m. Redbird great Doug Collins will be recognized at halftime of Saturday’s game for his recent induction into the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The Taste of Redbirds will take place beforehand, from 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. in Horton Field House.

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