Meyers Leonard and Sam Maniscalco were the long and short of it for Illinois on Tuesday night.
Leonard, a 7-foot-1 sophomore from Robinson, was a force inside with 22 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. And Maniscalco, a 6-foot senior point guard, was a steadying factor on both ends of the floor as Illinois held off Richmond 70-61 in the Cancun Challenge.
Maniscalco, the transfer from Bradley, scored 19 points and accounted for eight of Illinois' nine points in a key second-half stretch that helped hold Richmond at a safe distance.
The victory advances Illinois (4-0) to the championship game of the tournament at 8:30 tonight against Illinois State. The Redbirds reached the title game earlier in the evening with a 76-70 victory over Rutgers.
It was career victory
No. 300 for Illinois head coach Bruce Weber, whose career record now stands at 300-140.
The tournament is being staged in a converted ballroom at the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexico.
No matter what the setting, Leonard, Maniscalco and D.J. Richardson
(15 points) found the surroundings to their liking.
Illinois led 21-16 before inching away with an 8-0 run that included a pair of free throws by Joe Bertrand, two free throws by Tyler Griffey, a 3-pointer from the corner by Richardson on a feed from Maniscalco and a free throw by Leonard.
Leonard, who had 11 points and seven rebounds in the first half, was just as impressive on the defensive end as he was operating down low on offense.
He not only blocked five shots, but he altered several others while playing 35 minutes.
Illinois used its size to dominate on the glass. In the first half alone, Illinois grabbed eight offensive rebounds and turned those into 13 points while building a 37-19 lead
Ironic that Illinois and Illinois State, with campuses located about 50 miles apart, would have to travel all the way to Mexico to meet in a basketball game. Making it more ironic, the two teams shared a charter flight to Cancun.
The Illinois State coaching staff includes two men who have coached for the Illini. Head coach Tim Jankovich was an assistant coach on Bill Self's staff at Illinois and Redbird assistant coach Rob Judson was a player at Illinois and an assistant coach for Lon Kruger and Self.
Richmond tried to make a game of it in the second half. The Spiders scored on 10 of its first 14 possessions after halftime and got hot from behind the 3-point arc. The Illini lead dwindled and was cut to five points at 66-61 on a 3-pointer by Richmond's Darien Brothers with 1:23 to go.
But Maniscalco responded with a pair of free throws and Richmond did not score again the rest of the way.
"I though the most important part would be the first five minutes of the second half," Weber said. "They scored way too many points and got confident.
"But Meyers is playing like you hope he will and Sammy made some big shots. He understands angles and how to get to the rim and get fouled. He made some big plays.
"It won't be easy against Illinois State. They played very hard against Rutgers."
