TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Indiana State Sycamores held Colorado State to under 30 percent shooting in the second half en route to earning a 65-60 victory over the Rams in front of 4,308 fans at Hulman Center.

The win by the Sycamores evens the score for the Missouri Valley in the Mountain West/MVC Challenge at one. BYU downed Bradley 70-60 one week ago.

ISU improves to 3-1 on the season while Colorado State dropped to 2-2.

Indiana State's victory gives them a pair of wins out of the gate at Hulman Center for the first time since coach Kevin McKenna's initial squad won their first nine at home in 2007-08. ISU also broke a two-game losing streak against the Mountain West Conference, winning against the league for the first time since downing TCU by the score of 89-77 in 1999.

Colorado State was hot in the first half as they connected on 11-of-20 shots from the field before the break, including five 3-pointers. The Sycamore defense clamped down in the second half, allowing the Rams to hit just 28.6 percent of their shots after the break (8-of-28), including one triple.

"I think it's a credit to our guys, our depth and their ability to stay fresh," coach McKenna stated. "Dwayne had a pretty darn good second half. Dwayne is an emotional kid and we've talked to him about channeling his emotions towards the game. He's a great athlete, I think he had 14 points and seven rebounds in the second half."

ISU was consistent in both halfs, hitting 9-of-21 in the opening stanza (42.9 percent) and then posting a 45.5 percent mark (10-of-22) after halftime.

ISU was paced by the play of sophomore Dwayne Lathan who scored 18 of the Sycamores' 28 points off the bench. Lathan was 6-of-11 in the game and was also 6-of-8 at the free throw line. He nearly missed his first career double-double as he pulled down a team-high nine rebounds in the contest.

Lathan was one of three Sycamores to reach double figures scoring as Harry Marshall parlayed an 7-of-10 showing at the charity stripe into 15 points. Jake Kelly scored 13 as he connected on 8-of-11 free throws and added two more field goals.

The Sycamores found themselves down 19-10 with 10:59 left in the first half as the Rams came out of the gates blazing, hitting 7 of their first 9 shots. Things cooled for Colorado State as the Sycamores embarked on a 17-0 run which gave ISU a 27-19 advantage.

CSU countered by scoring 10 of the first half's final 12 points, including a jumper by Andre McFarland with just over a minute before the break as the game was knotted at 29 at the half.

The Sycamores came out hot in the second half with a jumper by Marshall and then tip-in by Brant Leitnaker to take a 33-29 lead. Carl Richard added a 3-point shot as the ISU took a 36-29 lead.

CSU took a brief lead at 40-39 on a Travis Franklin lay-up at the 10:42 mark but Lathan used an offensive rebound opportunity and hit a pair of free throws to give ISU a 41-40 lead that they would not lose.

In fact ISU outscored Colorado State by a 9-2 count, taking a 49-42 lead with 6:52 left on a jumper by Isiah Martin.

The Sycamores ground the lead up to 11 twice, both on points by Lathan, including one of three second half highlight reel fastbreak dunks by the talented sophomore. Lathan's dunk at the 2:32 mark sent Hulman Center into a frenzy and gave the Sycamores a 57-46 lead.

"He went up and got a couple rebounds, ran the floor really well, obviously getting out on the break and getting a few highlight reel dunks helps us and helps get the crowd behind us," McKenna commented. "Our crowd was really good tonight, students were great. My vision here is hoping that this is contagious, people see how hard we're playing, the excitement we're creating here and hopefully they'll keep coming out. That means a lot to our program."

Colorado State used a mixture of offensive rebounds and missed Sycamore free throws to cut the ISU lead down to 60-58 with 33 seconds left, but free throws by Kelly and Lathan cemented the 65-60 victory.

ISU forced 17 CSU turnovers and turned them in 19 points. The Sycamores also posted eight fast break points in the contest, six of which came on terrific dunks by Lathan.

Indiana State returns to action in the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tipoff on Monday, November 23 when they travel to Bowling Green, Ky., to take on Coastal Carolina. Tipoff at E.A. Diddle Arena is set for 5:30 p.m. (ET) and the game can be heard live on The Crock 92.7 FM as well as online at GoSycamores.com. ISU will take on the host Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers on Tuesday, November 24 at 8:00 p.m.

Both contests will have live websteams available on WKUSports.com for a fee.