Illinois State jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead and never looked back Thursday night en route to a dominant 71-45 victory over Hawai’i in the opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
A modest crowd of about 4,500 at the Stan Sheriff Center and national ESPN2 TV audience watched the Redbirds improve to 7-3 and advance to Friday’s 5 p.m. semifinal vs. San Francisco. The Warriors fell to 4-6 and will face Utah (7-3) in 7:30 p.m. consolation bracket game.
Illinois State got early back-to-back 3-pointers from MiKyle McIntosh and Paris Lee and led 10-0 less than three minutes into the game.