Yarbrough scores 27, Illinois State defeats Evansville 78-70

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EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Milik Yarbrough scored 27 points and Illinois State held Evansville to three points in the final two minutes for a 78-70 victory on Saturday.

Matt Chastain scored 13 points for the Redbirds (11-8, 4-2 Missouri Valley), Zach Copeland had seven assists and Yarbrough collected eight rebounds.

Evansville (9-10, 3-3) fell to 8-3 at home. K.J. Riley scored 19 points with six assists and John Hall had 18 points with 11 rebounds.

After two free throws by Riley cut the Illinois State lead to 71-67, the Purple Aces went on to miss five 3-pointers and their only points were three free throws by Shea Freehan with 48 seconds remaining. Illinois State, which has won eight straight in the series, made 7-of-10 free throws to close out the victory. The game's last field goal was a 3-pointer by Evansville's John Hall with 2:36 to go.