Posted: 11/12/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Adam Babcock Illinois' Shaun Pruitt brings down a rebound with Northeastern's Matt Jenning, left, and Manny Adako, right, during the game at Assembly Hall, in Champaign, Ill., Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007 . Pruitt scored 12 points and had lead the Illini with 17 grabs. Illinois beat Northeastern, 63-55.

After falling behind at the start of the game 9-4 and allowing the Huskies to stay within striking distance, the Illinois men's basketball team whimpered into halftime with a meager three-point lead, 22-19. It had been missing wide-open shots, contested shots and layups throughout the first half and had 10 turnovers while shooting just 29.4 percent from the field.

So in the locker room at the break, center Shaun Pruitt said head coach Bruce Weber pleaded for the Illini to pick up their play in the second half.

"He told us not to get complacent and not to let up," Pruitt said. "We kind of did that at the end."

The Illini found a rhythm to take advantage of their athleticism in the opening minutes of the second period - connecting on fast-break dunks and quick passes - to build a big enough lead to fend off Northeastern 63-55.

Running the floor together, Trent Meacham and Chester Frazier proved more than capable of finding Brian Randle and Rodney Alexander, tossing the two of them easy lobs down low for dunks. Eighteen of Illinois' 26 baskets were either dunks or layups.

Randle led the team with 14 points on 7-11 from the field and had several athletic blocks on the defensive end. Shaun Pruitt led the attack down low against a solid defense, scoring 12 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. Ten of those came in the first half off several of his own missed shots.

But the fluid offense didn't last long.

"I was hoping we could keep (the lead) in the 20s so we could get some other guys some minutes," Weber said. "That didn't happen."

Continued...

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