McCamey's 23 lead Illinois past Vanderbilt 79-68
CHAMPAIGN -- Illinois opened with a 9-0 run and Demetri McCamey scored 23 points and added five assists to lead the Illini past Vanderbilt 79-68 on Tuesday night.
McCamey buried two free throws with less than a minute left that finished the Commodores. But it was his 8-for-10 shooting that fired the Illini offense much of the night.
Illinois rode the outside shot of 7-1 center Mike Tisdale and the passing and shooting of McCamey to the 9-0 edge and a 46-36 at halftime lead that the Commodores (6-2) couldn't overcome.
The Illini (7-2) hit 61.8 percent of the first-half shots and 59.3 percent for the game.
After falling so far behind early, Vanderbilt cut Illinois' lead to seven in the opening minutes of the second half, using buckets from Jeffery Taylor, A.J. Ogilvy and Andre Walker to close within 49-42 with just over 16 minutes to play.
But with a chance to cut it to five, the Commodores missed their shot. Jermaine Beal took an awkward jumper that fell short of the basket as the shot clock wound down.
A little over five minutes later, the Illinois lead was 60-44 on consecutive three-pointers by freshman D.J. Richardson, Jeff Jordan and McCamey that pumped life back into what had become a quiet Assembly Hall.
Vanderbilt again chipped away at Illinois' lead, cutting it to eight on a three-pointer by John Jenkins with 5:36 to play. He scored 11 points, all in the final 11 minutes.
But Richardson and McCamey closed out the Commodores. Richardson scored five straight points followed by a pair of free throws from McCamey that that gave the Illini a 75-64 lead with 1:55 left. That gap was too steep for Vanderbilt.
Richardson, one of two freshmen starting for the Illini, finished with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Tisdale closed with 14 points and five rebounds and kept the 6-11, 250-pound Ogilvy in check with eight points and three rebounds.
Vanderbilt was led by Brad Tinsley's 12 points. Illinois held Taylor, who is averaging 15.4 points a game, to 12 and just two in the first half.
Beal, a senior guard, kept Vanderbilt in the game in the first 20 minutes with 3-of-8 three-point shooting and 11 points.
Illinois opened a lead of 12 points with 8:32 left in the half at 27-15 on a layup by McCamey, only to see Beal chop that gap back to nine with a 3-pointer.
Six minutes later, Richardson's jumper put Illinois up 39-26, matching the Illini's biggest lead of the first half. But within seconds Beal fired from long range, slicing the deficit back to 10.
Beal, though, didn't score in the second half. He hit just 4 of his 14 shots on the night.