Iowa  City, IA (SportsNetwork.com) - Jon Ekey rose up from the wing and buried 
a  contested 3-pointer  with 0.5 seconds left  to lift Illinois to a 66-63 win 
over No. 24 Iowa on Saturday. 

Ekey,  who  finished with  12 points off  the bench, knocked  down a trey with 
three  minutes  left to give  the Illini a 63-59  lead before Roy Devyn Marble 
and Gabriel Olaseni converted back-to-back layups to tie the game at 63-apiece 
to set up the late-game heroics. 

Rayvonte  Rice paced  Illinois (18-13,  7-11 Big  Ten) with  15 points,  while 
Nnanna  Egwu and  Kendrick  Nunn scored  14 and  10  points, respectively,  in 
the Illini's fourth win in their last five games. 

Aaron  White  led Iowa (20-11,  9-9) with 12 points  and eight rebounds in the 
setback.  Adam  Woodbury and Mike Gesell  each netted 11 points, while seniors 
Marble  and Melsahn Basabe scored eight and six points, respectively, in their 
final game at Carver Hawkeye Arena. 

Iowa  has lost  two straight to close  the regular season and five of its last 
six  overall. The  loss also snapped a 30-game home winning streak to unranked 
opponents. 

Olaseni  hit  a jumper to give  the Hawkeyes a  54-48 lead with 11 1/2 minutes 
left  in the  second half.  Illinois  answered with  an 11-0  spurt that  Ekey 
started with a three-point play. Egwu capped the run with a jumper to give the 
Illini a 59-54 advantage with under seven minutes to go. 

Woodbury  followed with  a jumper before Gesell  converted a 3 to tie the game 
at 59-59 entering the home stretch. 

Earlier, Ekey knocked down a 3-pointer with just under 14 minutes remaining in 
the  first  half to stake Illinois  to a 20-6  lead. The Illini would cool off 
from  there, going nearly eight minutes without a field goal as Iowa crept its 
way back into the contest. 

Zach  McCabe followed Ekey's triple with a 3 of his own, and Iowa proceeded to 
go on an elongated 17-1 run. White scored six straight points for the Hawkeyes 
and Gesell's jumper with 6 1/2 to play capped the spurt for a 23-21 lead. 

Rice  made a dunk  to end the field goal drought for Illinois and tie the game 
at 23-23. 

Woodbury  scored seven straight  for Iowa and Basabe hit a jumper as the first 
half came to a close to give the Hawkeyes a 34-29 lead at the break. 

                                   Game Notes 

Illinois shot 25-for-54 from the floor, while Iowa converted 24-of-54 attempts 
from  the  field ...  Marble shot  3-for-11 from  the floor  in defeat ... The 
Illini owned a 34-29 edge on the boards.