National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Illinois 66, SIU - Edwardsville 46
When: 8:30 PM ET, Monday, November 14, 2011
Where: Assembly Hall-ILL, Champaign, Illinois
Officials: # Dave Cronin, # Dan Dorian, # Rob Kruger
Attendance: 13404

D.J. Richardson matched his career-high with 20 points and Tyler Griffey collected his first career double-double as Illinois coasted to a 66-46 victory over visiting SIU Edwardsville on Monday in the opener of the Cancun Challenge in Champaign, Ill.

Richardson tallied 13 points in the first half as the Fighting Illini (2-0) raced to a 36-23 halftime lead.

After the Cougars (0-1) cut the lead to 44-37 with 13:30 remaining, Illinois put the game away with a 11-0 run over the next 4:45 and were never threatened.

Griffey, who had 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, along with 7-foot-1 center Meyers Leonard, helped Illinois dominate defensively.

Leonard grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds and added five blocked shots and eight points as Illinois enjoyed a 48-27 advantage on the boards and limited SIU Edwardsville to 29.8 percent shooting (17-for-57).

Mark Yelovich led the Cougars with 13 points.

Illinois will host Lipscomb on Thursday before heading to Mexico next week for the final two games of the tournament.
Top Game Performances
 
SIU - Edwardsville   Illinois
Mark Yelovich 13 Scoring D.J. Richardson 20
Corey Wickware 2 Assists Brandon Paul 4
Jerome Jones 8 Rebounds Tyler Griffey 14
Jerome Jones 2 Free Throws Made Tyler Griffey 4
Zeke Schneider 2 Steals Tracy Abrams 3
Derian Shaffer 1 Blocks Meyers Leonard 5
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
SIU - Edwardsville 46 29.8 8-22 4-6 9 25 2 8
Illinois 66 41.2 7-19 17-24 15 45 11 7