TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - All eight available Sycamores played hard in the 75-69 overtime league victory over Bradley in front of 3,986 fans at Hulman Center, but it was the determined play of junior Aaron Carter - who notched his first career double-double in the process, which helped will the Sycamores to victory.

Carter drained a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in regulation to give the Sycamores a two-point cushion before the contest eventually went into overtime. He hit another 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in the overtime period, with the Sycamores trailing by one that put ISU in front 71-69 to stay as Indiana State earned a hard fought victory to even the season series with the Braves.

Carter finished the contest with 19 points and a career-best 10 rebounds to post his first double-double in the victory. He was 7-of-10 from the floor, hit 3-of-4 3-pointers and was 2-of-2 at the free throw line. Two of Carter's three triples came in the final minute of regulation and overtime in the victory.

ISU improved to 16-11, 8-8 MVC while Bradley fell to 13-13, 8-8 MVC. ISU is at .500 after 16 league contests for the second time in the three-year tenure of head coach Kevin McKenna. With a victory over Illinois State next week, ISU will be over the .500 mark in the league play through 17 contests for the first time since the 2000-01 campaign.

ISU and Bradley went to overtime in both games of the league series this season. It marked the second consecutive season that ISU has gone to overtime in both contests against a league opponent as the Sycamores and Illinois State went to overtime twice last season. The Braves took down Indiana State 91-85 earlier this season in overtime at Carver Arena.

ISU got a pair of free throws from Reed just over a minute into overtime to take a 63-61 lead before Maniscalco answered with freebies of his own to knot the score at 63 with 2:25 remaining. Richard hit a big 3-pointer from the right wing to put ISU up 66-63, but Dyricus Simms-Edwards had the answer to knot the contest for the seventh time at 66 with 1:44 to go.

Richard tacked on a jumper with 1:29 to go as ISU surged ahead, but Bradley's Andrew Warren drilled a triple on a second chance opportunity with 1:02 remaining to give Bradley a 69-68 lead.

Carter's second last minute 3-pointer of the contest put ISU up 71-69 and after a miss by Simms-Edwards, Carter tacked on a pair of free throws for a 73-69 lead. Maniscalco missed a lay-up with eight seconds left and Reed finished off the scoring with two more charity tosses for the 75-69 victory.

Joining Carter in double figures scoring were Richard with 13; Reed with 12 and Crawford who went into double figures scoring for the second time this season with 11. ISU's starters scored 61 points while Bradley's starters scored 51 to improve the Sycamores to a perfect 11-0 on the season when the ISU starting five outscores their counterparts.

Bradley actually outshot the Sycamores, as the Braves hit 26-of-64 shots from the field, a 40.6 percent mark from the field while Indiana State was 24-of-60 from the field, a mark of 40 percent. ISU hit 9-of-27 shots from downtown (33.3 percent) while Bradley hit 50 percent of its shots from long range (7-of-14).

ISU had four players with five or more rebounds in the contest, as Doluony posted six to go with eight points while Reed and Richard added five. Printy led ISU with six assists with Reed right behind him at five.

Bradley won the battle of the board, 43-35 and used 17 offensive rebounds to score 13 second chance points. The Sycamore defense tallied 17 Bradley turnovers and converted them into 18 points. The Braves outscored the Sycamores, 26-24 in the paint.

The Braves led by as many as seven points early, while ISU held an 11 point lead with 5:43 to go in the first. Bradley outscored the Sycamores 40-30 to force overtime much like the Sycamores coming back from 16 points down in the previous meeting this season to force overtime.

The Sycamore victory, combined with the Creighton's loss at nationally-ranked Northern Iowa creates a three-way tie in the league standings for fourth place. Missouri State plays at Illinois State on Wednesday and Bear victory could create a four-way logjam for fourth place heading into the Valley's final season of play next week. MVC play halts this weekend for Bracketbusters as all 10 league teams will play a non-conference game on Saturday.

The victory puts ISU five games above .500 with three regular season games plus postseason play left, virtually assuring the Sycamores of its first over .500 season overall since the 2000-01 season. The Sycamores also halted a three-game losing streak to the Braves with the win.

Indiana State led the Braves 31-21 at the half and Bradley got out of the gate quick to cut the Sycamore lead down to 34-29 just four minutes in. Koang Doluony, who hit a triple in the first half, answered the initial Bradley burst with a 3-pointer from the right wing to stretch the lead back out to 37-29.

The Braves cut back into the Sycamore cushion with four consecutive points over the next minute to make it a 37-33 lead with 15 minutes left in the contest. The Sycamores held on though by answered with four consecutive points of their own, including a post feed into Isiah Martin that made it 41-33 with 13 minutes remaining.

Bradley cut the Sycamore lead down to four points twice near the eight-minute mark, but the Sycamores used a bucket from Richard and two charity tosses from Crawford for a 49-41 lead with 6:21 left.

Up 52-46, the Sycamores were left clinging to a 52-51 advantage at the three-minute mark after a jumper by Bradley's Sam Maniscalco, but Carter answered with a lay-up to stretch the lead back to three. Back-to-back scores by Andrew Warren and Maniscalco gave Bradley its first lead since early in the contest at 655-44 as the clock ticked under two minutes.

Reed gave ISU the lead back with 1:37 left on a pair of free throws before Maniscalco hit a runner to put Bradley back on to 57-56. Carter was big again with just under a minute remaining as his lay-up gave ISU a 58-57 lead before a pair of Taylor Brown charity tosses with 38 seconds left but Bradley back on top 59-58.

Indiana State scored first in the contest, as Josh Crawford flushed home a dunk just 13 seconds into the contest to give the Sycamores a 2-0 advantage.

Bradley used a 13-4 spurt over the next six minutes to take a first half-high lead of 13-6 with 13:24 to go before the break.

Just as it did for most of the first half, the Sycamore defense clamped down on the Braves and held them scoreless until the 9:13 mark as ISU rattled off a 13-0 run. The Sycamore spurt began with a basket by Richard and continued with three consecutive triples from Doluony, Carter (a three that gave ISU the lead) and then Printy. Reed capped the run on a jumper with 10:14 to go.

After Bradley's brief answer before the nine-minute mark, the Sycamores got a key 3-pointer by Richard and a bucket by Isiah Martin to stretch the cushion out to 24-15 with seven minutes left.

The Sycamore lead reached double digits a minute later on a lay-up by Reed for a 26-15 lead before Bradley countered with the game's next four points. Leading 28-21 with 1:31 to go, Printy drained a free throw and then the Sycamores got two more from Reed for the 31-21 lead.

ISU was paced at the half by Reed's six points while Richard, Carter and Doluony recorded five. The Sycamores hit 12-of-30 shots in the opening stanza (40 percent) while limiting the Braves to 8-of-30 from the field (26.7 percent) and forcing 11 Bradley turnovers, which ISU converted into 12 points.

Indiana State returns to action on Saturday, February 20 when the Sycamores travel to Green Bay for the annual Bracketbusters event. Tip-off is set for 8:05 p.m. (ET) and can be heard live in the Wabash Valley on The Crock 92.7FM as well as online at GoSycamores.com.