Illinois
Missouri State basketball rallies for another overtime victory at Southern Illinois
Late-game heroics from Chance Moore and Donovan Clay helped Missouri State men’s basketball rally from as many as 12 in the second half for their third-straight victory.
The Bears (13-9, 5-6) came back for a 76-75 overtime win over Southern Illinois (14-8, 6-5) on Wednesday night at the Banterra Center in Carbondale, Illinois.
Moore, who had struggled in recent weeks, scored the game-tying bucket with 18 seconds remaining. Clay made the game-winning jumper with 4.8 seconds left to secure the Bears their third-straight win.
More: Missouri State basketball’s back was against the wall. It kept fighting to upset Drake
Moore finished the game with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting with Clay leading the team with 24 points on an efficient 12 of 17 from the field.
Southern Illinois basketball got way too many open looks from 3 in the first half
The Salukis finished the first half hitting 8 of 15 shots from beyond the arc and held the Bears to 41.4% from the field.
SIU star Xavier Johnson, one of the frontrunners for the Missouri Valley Conference’s Player of the Year honor, scored 15 points while knocking down three of the shots from deep. Trent Brown and Troy D’Amico each hit a pair.
Missouri State struggled to find consistent offense and didn’t make a shot from the field over the final 2:36 of the period. Donovan Clay picked up three fouls in the first half but tied Cesare Edwards for the team lead with eight points.
SIU held Missouri State standout guard Alston Mason to 1 of 7 from the field and 0 for 6 from deep. He scored six points in the first 20 minutes as the Bears trailed 42-31 at the break.
Missouri State basketball’s defense woke up and the Bears made it a game
Out of halftime, Southern Illinois cooled down and only made four of its first 15 shots. A 7-0 run by the Bears over a two-and-a-half minute stretch that was capped off by a Chance Moore triple brought the game within five with 9:53 left.
Chance Moore sends game to overtime
Southern Illinois didn’t make a shot from the field for over six-and-a-half minutes but that didn’t stop the Salukis from going on a 7-0 run to extend their lead back up to 11. Johnson ended the drought with a 3 that felt like a dagger.
But it wasn’t. The Bears didn’t lie down and clamped down defensively. A 6-0 run with under three minutes left brought the game within two after Damien Mayo Jr. finished off a three-point play with 1:57 remaining.
Neither team scored until the final seconds when the Bears needed a basket the most. Moore, who had been struggling in recent weeks, got an offensive board with about 18 seconds to go to tie the game. The Bears got a stop at the other end to send the game to overtime.
Donovan Clay hits game-winner in overtime
Moore continued his late-game heroics by knocking down a 3 with 1:50 remaining to take a three-point lead. A Saluki travel was followed by a Clay jumper to take a five-point lead; MSU’s largest of the game to that point.
D’Amico responded by hitting a 3 with a minute to cut the Bears’ lead to two. Johnson later hit a pair of free throws to tie it up.
With 4.8 seconds remaining, Clay made what turned out to be the game-winning jumper. Southern Illinois turned the ball over on the in-bounds play out of a timeout which sent Edwards to the line to hit a pair of free throws to go up by four. Johnson made a meaningless half-court 3 at the horn.
Up next
The Bears will return home for a 1 p.m. game against Belmont on Saturday. The Bruins (12-10, 5-6) are coming off a 78-72 loss at Indiana State. The Bruins led by 19 at one point but couldn’t hold on.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL.
Illinois
Thousands of birds could migrate over the Chicago area this week, and here’s how to protect them
Thousands upon thousands of birds are expected to cross over Illinois as part of their spring migrations in coming days.
Thursday night saw the highest migration totals of the season so far, but researchers at Cornell believe that Sunday and Monday nights could see even more avian traffic in the skies over the Chicago area, with hundreds of thousands of birds expected to traverse the area.
According to estimates from Birdcast, Sunday night and into Monday morning there could be “medium” activity for migrating birds, with thousands of birds per kilometer flying over the area.
Even more birds are expected to take flight Monday night and into Tuesday morning thanks to favorable weather conditions, with a “high” number of birds expected to take to the skies over the Chicago area.
According to estimates, up to 383 million birds could be in flight over the central United States during the peak of the migration overnight.
On Thursday night the Chicago area experienced its busiest night of the spring migration season so far, with more than 367,000 birds having been estimated to have passed over Cook County alone.
In all, more than 23,000,000 birds are believed to have crossed the state of Illinois so far during the spring migration.
Among the primary birds expected to be flying through the area are American Redstarts, Magnolia Warblers, Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings, according to researchers at the CornellLab.
As millions of birds continue visiting the Chicago area, here are some steps that residents can take to keep them safe.
When do birds typically migrate?
Peak migration for birds over the state of Illinois occurs in mid-to-late May, with hundreds of different species heading north for the summer breeding season.
Those migration flights for songbirds and other species typically take place in the overnight hours. According to experts, birds typically take flight 30-to-45 minutes after sunset, with the greatest number of birds in flight typically seen approximately two-to-three hours later.
When should residents turn lights off?
One of the best ways to help protect birds is to turn off lights during peak migration times.
According to Birdcast, the best time to turn off or dim exterior lights and interior lights is between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., when most birds are active.
Bright lights can disorient and attract birds, making them vulnerable to collisions and to predators on the ground, according to the website.
Hundreds of millions of birds are killed each year in collisions with buildings, and residents and businesses are being asked to do their part to keep the creatures safe.
In addition to turning off unneeded exterior lights, residents and businesses are also asked to dim or turn off lights in lobbies, and to draw blinds to help keep light from escaping through windows.
Finally, exterior lights should be aimed downward and be well-shielded so that birds aren’t attracted to them.
Are there other steps?
Another key step in protecting birds is to bring pet cats inside during overnight hours.
According to the American Bird Conservancy, cats kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds in the United States every year, and during migration season those impacts can be even more devastating, as exhausted birds typically seek refuge in plants and trees to rest on their journeys, making them vulnerable to attack.
Since cats like to hunt at night, active migrating birds can be a target, leading to experts asking residents to keep animals inside when possible.
Police are investigating after a motorcyclist was killed in a crash in suburban Oswego on Saturday afternoon.
Officers responded to the 4000 block of Route 34 near Wolf Road for the crash around 1:42 p.m. The motorcyclist was unconscious and was receiving CPR when officers arrived.
They took over medical care until paramedics arrived and took the victim, identified as a 20-year-old man, to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
The victim’s identity is being withheld pending an autopsy scheduled for Monday, police said.
Initial reports say the victim was traveling eastbound on Route 34 when he hit an enclosed trailer being towed by a van. According to the police, the van was also traveling eastbound and was attempting to make a right turn into a driveway when the crash occurred.
The driver and passenger in the van were not hurt, police said.
Route 34 was closed between Wolf Road and Boulder Hill Pass for four hours for crash reconstruction.
The crash remains under investigation pending completion of the traffic crash reconstruction report.
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