Illinois State wins the CBI championship with a 79-68 victory over Cleveland State

By AP News Published Mar 26, 2025 09:04 pm

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Caden Boser scored a season-high 20 points, Chase Walker was named the College Basketball Invitational most valuable player, and Illinois State beat Cleveland State 79-68 on Wednesday night to claim the championship.

The Redbirds closed the season with a 22-14 record, the program’s first time reaching the 20-win plateau since the 2016-17 season.

Boser was a perfect 7 for 7, including 4 for 4 from beyond the arc for the Redbirds. Johnny Kinziger and Walker each scored 13 points, and Dalton Banks and Ty Pence had 11 apiece.

Tevin Smith led the Vikings (23-13) in scoring, finishing with 16 points. Cleveland State also got 11 points from Chase Robinson and Je’Shawn Stevenson.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

By The Associated Press