NORMAL — The exclamation point came when MiKyle McIntosh soared down the baseline to dunk a lob pass from Paris Lee with 18 seconds left.
By then it was time to move over, Wichita State. There had been a change at the top of the Missouri Valley Conference’s basketball standings. The Shockers got an up-close look of the new leaders Saturday.
For the first time since winning its last Valley regular-season title in 1998, Illinois State sits alone in first place in the league. McIntosh scored 20 points, while Deontae Hawkins added 14 points and eight rebounds as the Redbirds earned a 76-62 victory over Wichita State before a season-high crowd of 9,078 at rowdy Redbird Arena.