NORMAL - There are not many guys 5-foot-8 Boo Richardson sees eyeball to eyeball on the basketball court. Chicago State's David Holston is one of them. | Photo gallery

Yet the way Richardson and his Illinois State teammates blanketed Chicago State during a 10-minute stretch in Tuesday night's first half made each of the Redbird defenders seem 7-foot tall.

After Holston's 3-pointer gave Chicago State a 10-8 lead, the Redbirds took off. ISU went on a 25-0 run as Chicago State shot 0 of 14 from the field with five turnovers. ISU cruised from there to an 81-49 nonconference victory before a Redbird Arena crowd of 4,818.

"That was one of our goals to start the game on a roll, shut them down, get offensive and defensive rebounds and run with it from there," said Levi Dyer, who had his second career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Osiris Eldridge (15), Anthony Slack (14) and Dinma Odiakosa (12) also scored in double figures as the Redbirds tried to forget disappointing weekend losses to Indiana and Kent State in Hoffman Estates.

"I thought we had a very sharp, determined look to start this game which was significant to me coming off the weekend we had," said ISU coach Tim Jankovich. "I told our guys any time adversity hits, the biggest thing to me is how we respond to adverse situations, losing, injuries, bad lucks or bad calls.

"I was proud, but not surprised, that our guys had a real edge to them tonight when the game started."

ISU (4-2) won its 10th straight nonconference home game ahead of Saturday's 7:05 p.m. contest against Illinois-Chicago at Redbird Arena.

Holston came in averaging 27.0 points, tied for third best in the country. He also was No. 1 nationally in 3-point shooting percentage at .587.

While he's not known as a defensive stopper, Richardson turned into one on this night. He helped hold Holston to a season-low 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting, including 2 of 8 outside the arc.

"Boo did an unbelievable job on Holston, who on film scared me to death," said Jankovich. "Boo took the challenge, and that was tremendous for us."

The other key defender for ISU was Eldridge, who came off the bench for the first time this season. John Cantrell, who ended with a game-high 18 points, scored the first eight points for Chicago State (2-5) before Eldridge entered at the 16:55 mark.

When Cantrell scored again, his team was down 33-13.

"They were awfully aggressive and were very physical with us and did a good job playing solid defense," said Chicago State coach Benjy Taylor. "We got some easy baskets, then they came out a different team at that point. They started going inside against us, and we did not do a good job on their duck-ins."

Jankovich said Eldridge was late for the team's afternoon shootaround. Eldridge thought it was study hall time and was working on a paper for a class.

"So it's hard to be real mad at a guy who was over there trying to better himself academically," said Jankovich. "I hope he did well on the paper, though."

The Redbirds did well in most facets of the game Tuesday, although they were outrebounded 41-39 and continued to struggle at the free-throw line (13 of 23). ISU held Chicago State to 29.1 percent from the field (16 of 55) and 19 turnovers.

ISU had 22 assists on its 28 baskets, with Richardson handing out seven. Odiakosa also set a career high in points, making 5 of 7 shots as he and Slack (5 of 5) dominated their Chicago State counterparts inside.

"I started out the year and I really worked on things in the low post, conditioning and strength and all those things," said Odiakosa, who redshirted last season. "I think I've really improved over the last two years."

The only downer for ISU was a left ankle injury to forward Brandon Sampay on a missed layup with 11:39 left. Sampay hurt the ankle last year in junior college and during preseason workouts. He will have X-rays today.

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REDBIRD REPORT CARD

FRONT COURT: B

Anthony Slack, Dinma Odiakosa and Levi Dyer combined for 42 points and 23 rebounds. But Chicago State still grabbed 41-39 rebounding edge.

BACKCOURT: B +

Boo Richardson held high-scoring David Holston to season-low 12 points, while Osiris Eldridge's defense also shut down John Cantrell.

BENCH: A -

ISU reserves, with Eldridge coming off bench for first time, outscored Chicago State subs 39-8 thanks to eight 3-pointers.

OVERALL: B +

The Redbirds needed a laugher like this after last weekend in Hoffman Estates. The next Chicago team (Illinois-Chicago) won't be as easy Saturday.

Compiled by Jim Benson