Jan. 26, 2000

By GREG SMITH
Associated Press Writer

IOWA CITY, Iowa- Brian Cook, making only his second career start, scored 19 points and Sergio McClain added 14 Wednesday to lift Illinois to a 69-58 victory over Iowa.

Frank Williams scored 12 points for the Illini (11-6 overall, 3-3 Big Ten), who used their height advantage to dominate the backboards while winning their second straight.

Dean Oliver scored 13 points, Jacob Jaacks 12 and Ryan Luehrsmann 10 for Iowa (8-10, 2-5), who lost for the fifth time in the last six outings.

Cook, who led the Illini with 20 points in their 87-76 win last Saturday over Penn State, scored 12 of his points in the first 20 minutes as Illinois led 40-32 at halftime.

The 6-foot-10 freshman center, starting in place of the injured Marcus Griffin, and 6-11 forward Robert Archibald took control inside. Illinois grabbed 45 rebounds compared to 29 for the Hawkeyes, whose tallest starter was the 6-8 Jaacks. Archibald finished with six points and 10 rebounds.

Illinois shot 53 percent in the first half but cooled off in the last 20 minutes, hitting only 33 percent.

The Hawkeyes took advantage, using a pair of 3-point shots by Ryan Luehrsmann and a 3-point play by Dean Oliver to key a 13-4 run to climb back to within 49-47 with 9:40 remaining.

Joe Fermino hit a free throw and then scored on a layup with 6:55 left to give Iowa its biggest lead, 56-51, but the Hawkeyes managed just two free throws for the rest of the game.

Cook scored seven of the Illini's final 18 points as Illinois buried 10 of 12 free throws to pull away.