Missouri Missouri/Illinois Illinois Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Williams, who had only four points at halftime, got the last basket in regulation and scored six of his 18 points in overtime as No. 5 Illinois beat Missouri 86-81 Thursday night.

"At the end of the game, the guys had confidence in me to break my man down," Williams said. "They say that's what big players do, so I tried to do it."

Brian Cook added a career-high 25 points and had 11 rebounds for Illinois (9-2), which has won five in a row. Illinois ended Missouri's three-game winning streak in the annual neutral-site game, played before a sellout crowd of 22,089.

"This is the best one," said forward Sergio McClain, who added 14 points and nine rebounds. "They kicked our butts three years in a row, but we gutted it out and got the victory."

Williams scored on a 10-foot baseline jumper with 38 seconds left to force the extra period and opened the overtime by scoring from the key. He added a three-point play and a free throw and also blocked Clarence Gilbert's 3-point attempt with 44 seconds to go.

Missouri players were impressed.

"I like playing against the best players," guard Wesley Stokes said. "That shows what I need to work on. He got some tough shots on me at the end that I thought he shouldn't have made, but I need to work on my defense."

Illinois put it away on two free throws by Cory Bradford with 40.8 seconds to go that made it 86-78.

Clarence Gilbert had 23 points for Missouri (7-3), which finished a run of three ranked Big Ten schools in a five-day span. The Tigers also lost at Iowa in double-overtime on Saturday and won at Indiana on Monday.

"It's been something else," Stokes said. "It's going to be nice to get a few days off to give our bodies some time to recuperate."

Arthur Johnson added 15 points and 12 rebounds for Missouri. But Kareem Rush scored a season-low 11 points, played only 21 minutes due to foul trouble and fouled out with 4:20 left and Illinois leading 65-64. Rush leads the Big 12 with a 22-point average.

"It was really frustrating," Rush said. "Getting in foul trouble is never any fun. I had to sit on the sideline and watch the team play."

Missouri coach Quin Snyder said Rush's problems were too much to overcome.

"It's tough to play without your best player," Snyder said. "It's going to be hard for us to win with Kareem playing half the game."

Illinois led 43-37 at the half and was ahead twice by eight points before Missouri rallied. Wesley Stokes had a 3-pointer and three-point play in a 26-second span to knot it at 56 with 13:19 to go. T.J. Soyoye hit two free throws with 12:47 left and put the Tigers in front for the first time since midway through the first half.

Neither team led by more than four points the rest of regulation.

Cook dominated with an inside-outside game in the first half and scored 23 points. Cook was 9-for-10 overall, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range, and had 10 points in a 17-2 run that turned a 27-21 deficit into a 38-29 lead with 3:44 left in the half.

"That was the best half anyone has played for us this year," coach Bill Self said. "We were up six points and he was the reason."

Illinois went 10-for-11 from the free throw line, while Missouri shot 7-for-13.

Gilbert had 10 points in the half for Missouri, which led by nine points, 22-13, with 12:25 remaining but made only five of its last 17 shots in the half.

ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Missouri Clubhouse

Illinois Clubhouse

AUDIO/VIDEO
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Brian Cook gets the feed from Frank Williams in the paint.
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Missouri's Kareem Rush hits the fadeaway jumper.
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Illinois' Sergio McClain powers his way to the hoop.
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Rickey Paulding breaks down the defense on the way to the hoop.
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