ST. LOUIS (AP) - Trent Frazier scored a career-high 22 points and Leron Black added 20 to lead Illinois to a 70-64 win over Missouri on Saturday night.
The Illini (9-5) have won five straight games in the annual pre-Christmas showdown.
Kassius Robertson paced the Tigers (10-3) with 22 points. Jordan Barnett added 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Illinois leads the overall series 25-12 in games played in St. Louis.
Mark Smith added 11 points for Illinois, and Michael Finke scored 10.
Black scored 13 first-half points as the Illini took a 20-point lead into the break. Frazier hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 53 seconds for a 42-22 cushion.
Illinois used runs of 9-0 and 10-0 to roll out to a 19-5 lead.
Missouri, which had a five-game winning streak snapped, missed 10 of its first 12 shots and committed 14 turnovers on its first 29 possessions over the initial 16-plus minutes.
The Tigers got to within 66-62 in the final minute.
But Frazier hit a pair of fouls shots with 25 seconds left to push the lead to six.
A sellout crowd of 21,289 witnessed the 37th edition of the annual pre-Christmas rivalry game on Saturday. A series-low 12,409 fans saw last year's contest.
Up next, Illinois will host Grand Canyon on Saturday before opening Big Ten Conference play at Minnesota (Jan. 3) and at Michigan (Jan. 6)
TEAM NOTES
- Illinois is 25-12 against Missouri in the Braggin' Rights Series in St. Louis.
- Illinois has won five straight games vs. Missouri.
- Illinois leads the all-time series vs. Missouri 32-16.
- Illinois leads the all-time series vs. Missouri at Scottrade Center 16-8.
- Illinois' bench outscored Missouri's bench, 27-0.
- Illinois forced 21 turnovers, tying Missouri's season high (21 vs. Stephen F. Austin).
- Illinois had 10 turnovers, tying its second-fewest in a game this season (6 vs. Marshall).
- Illinois led 42-22 at halftime, the biggest halftime lead by either team in the series since at least 1990.
- Illinois held Missouri to 5-of-27 shooting from 3-point range (18.5 percent). The Tigers entered the game averaging 9.8 threes made per game with a 39.7 three-point shooting percentage.
- Illinois led for the final 35:25 after taking a 4-2 lead with 15:25 remaining in the first half.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Freshman guard Trent Frazier had a season-high 22 points. His previous high was 20 vs. Longwood 12/13/2017. Frazier is averaging 17.8 points per game in the last four games.
- Redshirt junior forward Leron Black had 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting, including 2-of-2 shooting from 3-point range. The 20 points were Black's second-most this season (career-high 23 vs. UT Martin). Black also had a team-high seven rebounds.
