National Basketball Association
Illinois 48, St. Bonaventure 43
When: 9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Where: Assembly Hall, Champaign, Illinois
Officials:
# Michael Kitts, # Steve McJunkins, # Larry Scirotto
Attendance:
14711
By SportsDirect Inc.
Brandon Paul scored 11 of his 17 points in the final four minutes and No. 22 Illinois rallied from a late nine-point deficit to remain unbeaten with a 48-43 victory over visiting St. Bonaventure on Wednesday.
Illinois trailed 39-30 with 5:17 remaining after scoring only two field goals in the first 14 minutes of the second half.
The Fighting Illini (9-0), though, ended the game on a 18-4 run led by Paul, and sent St. Bonaventure (3-4) to its 17th straight loss against a ranked opponent.
Illinois, which missed 18 of its first 20 shots of the second half, started the comeback with a 3-pointer from D.J. Richardson, who scored 11 points.
Paul then scored the next eight straight Illini points to tie the game at 41. Meyers Leonard's short jump hook broke a 43-all tie and gave Illinois the lead for good with 58 seconds remaining.
Illinois is off to its best start since the 2005-06 team started 15-0 and the nine-game winning streak is the longest since Bruce Weber took over as coach nine years ago.
Andrew Nicholson led the Bonnies with 17 points and eight rebounds, but missed a potential tying-jumper and had a turnover in the final 30 seconds.
Top Game Performances
| St. Bonaventure |
|
Illinois |
|
Andrew Nicholson 17 |
Scoring |
Brandon Paul 17 |
|
Matthew Wright 2 |
Assists |
Brandon Paul 5 |
|
Andrew Nicholson 8 |
Rebounds |
Meyers Leonard 8 |
|
Andrew Nicholson 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Brandon Paul 8 |
|
Andrew Nicholson 3 |
Steals |
Brandon Paul 3 |
|
Youssou Ndoye 1 |
Blocks |
Tyler Griffey 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| St. Bonaventure
|
43 |
35.4 |
4-15 |
5-8 |
8 |
34 |
2 |
5 |
18 |
| Illinois
|
48 |
31.9 |
7-26 |
11-17 |
9 |
24 |
2 |
9 |
13 |