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Illinois State making strides forward despite overtime loss to Murray State in MVC opener

MURRAY, Ky. — Ryan Pedon wanted to make one thing perfectly clear Thursday night — there won't be any "moral victories" as long as he's Illinois State's head coach.

The scoreboard showed Murray State with a 70-67 overtime victory over the Redbirds in the Missouri Valley Conference basketball opener. It was the Redbirds' fifth straight loss and dropped their record to 2-6.

Yet there are also steppingstone games. Pedon and his team felt like they took a huge step forward before an CFSB Center crowd of 5,471 that came to celebrate the Racers' first-ever MVC game and almost walked away disappointed.