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Led by Malik Wildermuth with 21 points the UHigh Pioneers flew past the Rantoul Eagles Friday night 72-59.  Wildermuth scored 18 points from behind the 3 point stripe.  Ohio State recruit Keita Bates Diop poured in 17 points while grabbing 11 rebounds.  Top scoring for the Eagles was from freshman Kevonte Williams with 20. 20140221 Rantoul Eagles at U High Pioneers Boys Basketball photos - Images by Alan Look  - Chimper

The 2nd half of the Bradley-ISU rivalry, dubbed for years now as the war on 74, was at Redbird Arena this season on the evening of Saturday February 15th. A little slower pace than some of the games we've seen this season.  The Redbirds scored first and pulled out to an almost 10 point lead before the Braves closed the gap in the first half.  The second half saw the Redbirds pull away and safely have the game tucked away with at least 2 minutes left to go. 20140215 Bradley at Illinois State - Images by Alan Look  - Chimper

There were more exciting games in Bloomington - Normal this weekend than one sports shooter could handle.  Friday night started it off with games at both U High and Bloomington.  With the Bloomington Raiders hosting the Normal West Wildcats, it was a pick to watch the intercity rivals.  Bloomington came out on top this round. 20140207 West Wildcats at Bloomington Raiders boys basketball photos - Images by Alan Look On Saturday, it was the annual Pink Games at Illinois Wesleyan as both the Men's and Women's teams hosted the Elmhurst Bluejays.  Both genders of the Titans sported some Pink and proceeds from a raffle and other fan oriented events went to the fight on breast cancer.  The Titans came out winners as well as they bested the Bluejays in both games. 20140208 Elmhurst Bluejays at Illinois Wesleyan Women's Basketball photos - Images by Alan Look 20140208 Elmhurst Bluejays at Illinois Wesleyan Men's basketball...

During the 2014 National Signing day (February 5th), Kicker Luke Otto of Normal U-High Pioneers signed his letter of intent to attend and play football with the Leathernecks of Western Illinois.  Western has had a long standing annual game with the Illinois State Redbirds, so Luke should feel right at home every other year playing at Hancock Stadium where the Redbirds as well as the Pioneers call home. Luke Otto, Western Illinois Football Recruit - Images by Alan Look -Chimper

Two Redbirds hit single game individual records last night scoring more points in a game than they had before.  Bobby Hunter put away 19 points and Nick Zeisloft hit the 15 mark as the Redbirds defeated the Bulldogs of Drake University by a score of 75-57.  Drake began substituting players with little time to their credit with over 3 minutes left in the game.  Fan favorite, Matt Stacho - a walk on for Illinois State made an appearance with 2:30 left.  The Redbirds move to a MVC record of 5-5, Drake drops to 3-7. 20140201 Drake at Illinois State Men's Basketball Photos - Images by Alan Look

In McLean County Illinois, the granddaddy of local basketball tournaments has been held for 103 times in 104 years.  It's changed a lot over the years as school districts grew larger or small and many consolidated.  The current day tournament is a coed tournament including boys and girls brackets.  The schools filling those brackets are from the county or from the Heart of Illinois Conference (HOIC).  County proper teams have dwindled over the years as consolidation erupted.  Schools that currently have a McLean County presence are Heyworth, LeRoy, Ridgeview, Lexington, El Paso - Gridley, and Tri Valley. The only non-Bloomington-Normal school I can think of that has students from the county but isn't included in the tournament is Olympia. This year, the Ridgeview Mustangs entered the tournament undefeated and with Coach Rodney Kellar looking for his 500th win.  He got that win as Ridgeview defeated El Paso Gridley in the semi-final.  Ridgeview s...

The Wichita State Shockers showed up at Redbird Arena on January 22 with an undefeated season.  They left with it still intact.  The Redbirds scored the first points of the game and kept it a back and forth game through the first half.  Starting the 2nd half, the Redbirds had a 3 point lead.  The Shockers however picked up their game, leading by as much as 18 points.  The Redbirds stormed back with less than 8 minutes left to cut the margin to 9.  The effort fell once more as the Shockers led by 15, 70-55 at the buzzer. 20140122 Wichita State at Illinois State - Images by Alan Look