BATON ROUGE, La. - Indiana State downed Milwaukee by the score of 76-63 on the second day of play in the LSU Regional of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tipoff played at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Sycamores split their two contests this week in the NIT Season Tipoff and improved to 2-1 on the season while Milwaukee dropped both games and fell to 1-2 on the year.

Things started ominously for Indiana State as the Sycamores found themselves down 7-0 just a minute and a half into the game. Harry Marshall got Indiana State kick-started with the first of his three first half 3-pointers at the 18:02 mark.

The Sycamores made it two triples in a row out of the gate when Jake Kelly hit one to make it 12-6 with 16:21 left. On the next possession, Kelly picked up his second foul and his minutes were limited the remainder of the half.

Undaunted, the Sycamores continued to battle as Rashad Reed hit the Sycamores' third first half 3-pointer to trim the Panther lead down to 12-11 with 14:49 left.

After a score by Crawford, Marshall got back in the act with another 3-pointer with 12:25 on the clock to knot the contest at 16. The Sycamores were able to claim their first lead of the game shortly thereafter on a breakaway score by Dwayne Lathan to stake ISU to an 18-16 advantage. After briefly losing the lead again, the Sycamores gained it back on an offensive put back by Kelly with 9:13 left to give ISU the 22-20 lead.

Doluony gave ISU the lead back against with 6:51 to go on a breakaway dunk sparked by a Lathan steal. He continued his personal run with a long two pointer to make it 28-25 with 5:34 left.

Brant Leitnaker got the ball with just seconds showing on the clock before the half and converted the only two ISU free throws of the opening stanza to give the Sycamores a 38-36 lead.

The ISU defense began to clamp down in the second half as the Sycamores scored the first four points to stretch the lead out to 42-36 as Milwaukee didn't score until the 16:48 mark of the second period.

The decision run for the Sycamores began with 13 minutes left as ISU led 46-45. Rashad Reed, hit the first of his three second half three pointers to make it 49-45 and ISU went on a 10-2 spurt which ended with ISU holding a 56-47 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining on another bucket by Reed.

Reed clinched the win with just under eight minutes to go as he hit a 3-pointer to make it 61-51 and then it reached 64-54 against when Reed followed it up with another one just a minute later.

Lathan's bucket with just under a minute left gave ISU a 74-60 lead.

ISUw as paced by Reed's 16 points, all but three scored in the second half. Lathan continued a hot start to his high school career as he scored 14 points, going a perfect 7-of-7 from the field. He is now 10-of-10 for the season from the field. Kelly added 11 points and Marshall also had 11 for ISU.

Rebounding continued to be a concern for the Sycamores as the Panthers held a 37-31 edge on the glass, including 22 offensive rebounds. Milwaukee held a 15-11 edge in second chance points.

ISU did score 17 points off of 13 UWM turnovers and converted 10 fast break points.

The Sycamores continued to show their depth by scoring 31 bench points it the contest.

Milwaukee was paced by 10 points and 10 rebounds from James Eayrs.

Indiana State returns home on Friday, November 20 when they host Colorado State as part of the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Conference Challenge Series. Tipoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. (ET) at Hulman Center.

An announcement is expected this evening in regards to ISU's destination and opponents for the second week of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tipoff. If Western Kentucky defeats LSU tonight, the Sycamores will return for a second week of games in Baton Rouge, La., against two neutral court opponents while the Sycamores will got the Bowling Green, Ky., for a pair of games if LSU wins tonight.