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Hill Scores 32, Illinois Beats Rutgers 110-101 In 3OT

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Malcolm Hill scored 10 of his 32 points from the free throw line in the third overtime and Illinois outlasted Rutgers 110-101 on Wednesday night, extending the Scarlet Knights' losing streak to 10 games.

Hill also had a career-high 14 rebounds as the Illini (11-12, 3-7 Big Ten) rallied after blowing a seven-point lead in the final 29.2 seconds of the first overtime.

Jalen Coleman-Lands had a career-high 26 points, Maverick Morgan had a career-high 20 points and Kendrick Nunn added 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Corey Sanders had career highs of 39 points and 12 assists for Rutgers (6-17, 0-10) but he missed a free throw with 3.3 seconds to play in regulation that would have put the Scarlet Knights ahead. Jonathan Laurent had a career-best 23 points for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers has now lost its last 24 regular-season conference games dating to a win over Wisconsin on Jan. 11, 2015, and 25 straight league games counting the tournament.

For two teams that are struggling in the conference this was an exciting game until the final overtime.

Hill hit two free throws with 3:56 left in the third extra five minutes to give Illinois a 95-93 lead. The Illini proceeded to score the first nine points to take a 102-93 lead. Nunn, who had a horrible night shooting, made a big 3-pointer after making only 2 of his first 12 shots.

Rutgers had a chance to win the game in the closing seconds of regulation.

Hill hit a foul-line jumper with 9.7 seconds to play to give Illinois a 75-74 lead.

Instead of calling their last time out, Sanders took the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the court and was fouled by Khalid Lewis on his drive along the right side of the lane with 3.3 seconds to play. He hit the first free throw to tie and missed the second.

Hill got the rebound and was fouled by Grier with less than a second to play. However, it was only the Scarlet Knights fifth team foul so it was not a shooting situation.

The Illini appeared to put the game away in the first overtime, opening an 86-79 lead with 29.2 seconds to play. However, they turned the ball over twice and allowed Rutgers to close to within 86-84 when Sanders hit two free throws.

Lewis had a chance to ice the game with 11 seconds to go but he missed the second of two free throws and Sanders performed some magic in the waning seconds. He missed a game-tying 3-pointer, got his own rebound, dribbled back beyond the 3-point line and hit a fadeaway 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 87, causing his bench to mob him in celebration.

Sanders missed two shots late in the second overtime that would have given Rutgers the lead and Hill missed a game-winning attempt at the buzzer.

The last overtime was all Illinois.

TIP-INS

Illinois: Hill has scored in double figures in every game this season. His career high was 34 against South Dakota earlier this year. He has 16 career games of 20-plus including 12 this season.

Rutgers: Sanders' total was the most ever by a Rutgers' freshman, breaking the mark of 35 set by Quincy Douby in an NIT game against Ohio State in 2004. It was the most points by a Rutgers player since Douby had 40 against Syracuse in 2006.

UP NEXT

Illinois hosts No. 5 Villanova on Sunday.

Rutgers at Nebraska on Saturday.

(© 2016 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.)

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