TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - For one Indiana State senior, even through injury this season, the Sycamores have always been his team. And today, Harry Marshall made Senior Day his moment, by draining a long 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded in overtime to send ISU to a 75-72 victory over Missouri State in front of 10,200 fans on SERVPRO Fan Appreciation Day.

ISU finishes the regular season with a 17-13 record, 9-9 in the MVC. This is the first season since the 2000-01 campaign that the Sycamores have finished with at least a .500 record in the league and is the first time ISU has finished with an overall record over .500 since that same year.

The Sycamores have clinched the Missouri Valley's No. 6 seed at next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and will face off against the league's No. 3 seed in the quarterfinal round. With the victory the Sycamores have avoided the play-in round of the tournament for the first time since the 2000-01 campaign when ISU was the No. 4 seed and became the lowest seeded team to ever win Arch Madness.

An Illinois State victory at UNI tonight means that the Sycamores will play Wichita State in the quarterfinals, while a Redbird loss means that Illinois State will be the Sycamores' opponent on Friday.

Missouri State fell to 19-11, 8-10 MVC and will be the No. 7 seed at next week's State Farm MVC Tournament.

With the ball and the score tied at 69 with 33.7 seconds left in the overtime period, much as it was at the end of regulation, the Sycamores controlled the ball for the final possession. ISU failed to score in regulation, but this time it was Reed who converted for Indiana State with a contested 3-point shot from the left wing to surge ISU ahead 72-69 with just over ten seconds remaining.

Missouri State's Kyle Weems answered Reed's call to knot the score at 72 with four seconds remaining.

That is when Marshall stepped up and hit the shot of his career. A pull-up jumper by Marshall from the First Financial Bank logo in front of the Sycamore bench left his hands with 1.1 seconds on the clock and hit nothing but the bottom of the net as the horn sounded to give the Sycamores a 75-72 overtime victory. It marks the second time in his career that Marshall has hit a buzzer-beating, game-winner as he also accomplished the feat as the buzzer sounded in a 75-73 road overtime victory over Illinois State last season.

ISU is now 1-3 this season in overtime contests, playing a total of four league contests to an extra period. For the first time since ISU joined the MVC, the Sycamores played overtime contests in both ends of the season series against two opponents as both contests against Missouri State & Bradley went to an extra frame.

Marshall's final shot gave him leading scorer honors with 21 points. He now has 1,046 career points, and is the only initial walk-on in the history of the Sycamore basketball program to score of 1,000 points in his career. Dwayne Lathan came off the bench to score 15 points while Reed added 12 in his final contest.

Lathan and Josh Crawford each tailed seven rebounds in the victory.

The Sycamores hit 28-of-67 shots from the field (41.8 percent), but were out-rebounded 48-37 by the Bears. ISU hit just 11-of-17 free throws (64.7 percent), nearly 13 points below their season average, which currently ranks in a tie for first in the nation. Both teams hit eight 3-pointers in the contest.

Indiana State owned the advantage inside, outscoring the Bears 36-26 in the paint and used 12 Missouri State turnovers to score 12 points on the offensive end. MSU had 15 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second chance points.

Missouri State was paced by 20 points from Adam Leonard, who hit 5-of-14 shots from 3-point range as well as 16 points from Nafis Ricks off the bench and 11 from Jermaine Mallett.

The game was the annual SERVPRO Fan Appreciation Day hosted by ISU alums Chad & Natalie Overton. All unsold tickets to the game were purchased by the Overtons and distributed to the Wabash Valley free of charge. The Sycamores improved to 2-1 all-time on SERVPRO Fan Appreciation Day inside Hulman Center.

Playing in an overtime contest against the Bears for the second time this season, both teams traded buckets to open the first minute of overtime as a lay-up by Josh Crawford knotted the game for the seventh time at 64.

Sent to the free throw line with 3:14 on the clock, Nafis Ricks hit 1-of-2 to give the Bears a 65-64 lead and a Will Creekmore putback following a stop of the Sycamores put MSU ahead 67-64 with 2:50 on the clock. Marshall continued to help carry the Sycamores as a counter to the Bears momentum as he converted a conventional 3-point play with 2:39 remaining in the first overtime to tie the score once again at 67.

As the overtime clock ticked down under two minutes, Crawford came up with a huge defensive rebounds and Aaron Carter's drive to the bucket with 1:32 on the clock sent him to the line for a pair of free throws. Carter hit both of his free throws to give the Sycamores a 69-67 lead.

Following a Missouri State timeout, Harry Marshall recorded a steal and after MSU briefly regained control of the basketball, Carl Richard wrestled it away before a Sycamore miss on the offensive end. Ricks drew a foul on Crawford to send him out of his final game at Hulman Center before he hit a pair of free throws with 41.1 seconds on the clock to tie the score at 69.

With 3:53 left in the game, senior Harry Marshall hit 1-of-2 free throws to inch ISU closer at 57-55 and on a second-chance opportunity from Josh Crawford he hit a lay-up to knot the score at 57 with three and a half to go.

MSU took a 59-57 lead on their next possession and after an ISU defensive stop, Lathan strolled to the charity stripe for a one-and-one opportunity and converted them both to knot the contest for the fifth time at 59 with 2:09 remaining.

Senior Josh Crawford keyed a defensive stop of the Bears' next possession with a blocked shot and senior Rashad Reed connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give ISU a 62-59 lead with 1:30 left in the contest. With its new found 3-point lead, the Sycamore defense was whistled for a foul on a Bear 3-point shot but Leonard was able to hit just 1-of-3 to trim the ISU cushion down to 62-60.

Missouri State got the offensive rebound off the Leonard miss and he then Leonard missed a contested 3-pointer but the Bears came down with the carom yet again. Following a Bear timeout with ISU still holding a 62-60 lead and less than a minute on the clock, the Sycamores were whistled for another foul which sent MSU's Nafis Ricks to the free throw line with 27.7 seconds left.

Ricks hit both free throws to knot the score at 62 to set up Indiana State with the final possession of the game. With 0.8 seconds on the clock, Crawford missed a heave to send the Bears and Sycamores into overtime for the second time this season.

Trailing 29-28 at the half, ISU used a trio of defensive stops and a lay-up as well as a conventional 3-point play to continue an 8-0 run from the first half in taking a 33-29 lead out of the gate following halftime. Four consecutive points by Jermaine Mallett even the score at 33 with 16:40 on the clock, before the Bear run continued with Caleb Patterson and Nafis Ricks to make it 37-33.

Lathan answered the Bear run with a driving lay-up to make it 37-35 and a 3-pointer by MSU's Adam Leonard gave the Bears a 40-35 cushion before Lathan countered with a triple of his own to inch the Sycamores closer at 40-38. MSU scored the game's next six points on back-to-back 3-pointers by Leonard to make it 46-38 with 13:02 to go.

The Sycamores answered with a fast-break dunk at the 11:58 mark by Carl Richard and that was followed with a lay-up by Rashad Reed which inched the Sycamores even closer at 46-42 with 11:04 to go.

ISU trailed 48-43 with 10:43 on the clock before a jumper by Carl Richard and a 3-pointer from Rashad Reed made it 49-48 with 9:45 remaining. The Bears got a 3-pointer from Will Creekmore and a lay-up from Keith Pickens near the eight-minute mark of the second half to stretch the lead out to 54-48.

Jordan Printy connected on a 3-pointer from the right baseline corner to cut into the Bear advantage with seven minutes left and turnaround lay-up by Richard with six and half on the clock made it 54-53.

Following a couple of defensive stops to start the contest for both teams, the Sycamores took their first lead of the game at 2-0 on a driving lay-up by Harry Marshall. Missouri State countered with the game's next seven points as they raced out to a 7-2 advantage before Dwayne Lathan hit a runner to make it 7-4.

After Missouri State scored six consecutive points for a 13-4 lead, Jordan Printy got open at the top of the key to trim the Bear cushion down to 13-7. Each team traded baskets, before Marshall and Martin hit back-to-back shots to make the score 15-13 and Lathan tied it with a breakaway dunk with 7:40 remaining before the half.

The Sycamores gained a brief 18-17 lead on a conventional 3-point play by Marshall, but a 6-0 spurt by Missouri State ran their lead out to 23-18 with five and half minutes on the clock. Lathan got the Sycamores within 23-20 before the Bears outscored ISU 5-2 over the next two minutes for a 27-22 lead.

Lathan hit 1-of-2 free throws as the clock ticked under two minutes in the opening stanza to make it 27-23 and then Martin hit a lay-up with 1:11 on the clock as the Sycamores inched closer at 27-25. Two Caleb Patterson free throws gave MSU a 29-25 advantage, but a clutch 3-pointer by Aaron Carter trimmed the Bears lead to 29-28 at the half.

Marshall led ISU with nine points while Lathan added seven in the opening half. The Sycamores hit 12-of-31 shots from the field (38.7 percent) before the break while MSU hit 10-of-29 (34.5 percent).

Indiana State will participate next in the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis on March 4-7. Complete pairings and game times will be announced later this evening on GoSycamores.com.

Missouri State at Indiana State
Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010
Postgame Press Conference

Indiana State Head Coach Kevin McKenna
Opening Statement
"I thought it was awfully competitive game. Missouri State is a tough team. Obviously, we had two thrillers - two really crazy, wild games. When you write a Hollywood script, this is how senior day should be. I'm really proud of our guys stepping up and making just enough plays to win a pretty emotional game for our guys. A lot of things were riding on it for both teams, and I'm proud of our guys' effort."

On senior Harry Marshall
"A guy comes here as a walk on and works so hard to turn himself into a 1,000-point scorer and play as hard as he does. I'm really proud of Harry and his effort. To be able to have that in your back pocket for the rest of your life nice and it's cool for him."

On Missouri State's rebounding
"That's been one of their strengths and one of our weaknesses. We overcame it tonight. They had 15 offensive rebounds, but they only scored 11 points off of them. Usually we've been giving up a lot more points than that on the offensive rebounds. Our guys battled though. We did enough defensively and made some good plays and they got loose on us a couple of times. But like I said, Missouri State is a good team, and it was a competitive game."

On senior Rashad Reed
"He shot those last couple with a lot of confidence. The earlier ones that he didn't make, maybe he was a little tentative or didn't quite get his legs into it. But he rose up and hit those two like a senior with some urgency. Defensively, he did a good job the whole game and stepped up and made a couple of big ones for us."

On getting a fifth or sixth seed in the MVC Tournament
"That's the last thing we wrote on the board - we'll be playing on Friday if we do the things we talk about, as far as our keys go. It's a step in the right direction. We have improved as the season has gone on. We have improved in the last three years. That's gratifying as a coaching staff, and I think our players are also feeling good about the direction that we've been going. Our seniors helped us with that step in the right direction today."

Senior Harry Marshall
On his game-winning 3-pointer
"After Wims hit that, I was really just trying to get it down the floor as quickly as I could. I think it was like 4.5 seconds left. I think Ricks cut off my right hand, so I just tried to go left. I just tried to throw up a good shot. Sometimes it's better being lucky than good."

On how it feels to have had the game-winning shot
"It's a great feeling. We worked hard. We were down all game, trying to battle and keep the lead and take the lead. It was up and down. Trying to come back and then going up and down like that, you use a lot of energy, and it takes a lot of emotion out of you. I was definitely trying not to go into the second overtime - I didn't think I had the legs left for that. I'm glad and happy I made the shot."

On coming back from being at a disadvantage
"We were down by nine, and I think we were down by 20-something down there and came back. That's always in the back of your mind that you can come back from a deficit. When it's all up for grabs, you can't leave anything to wonder about. You can't think about anything. You have to leave it all out on the floor. I think our team did that tonight. We didn't want to leave anything. Congratulations to our team, I'm glad we did it today."

Senior Rashad Reed
On hitting a big three at the end of regulation play
"We called a play, and the play has continuation for me to get to the lane or to get that shot off. I had missed a couple, but a few of my teammates were like, 'You're a shooter, so you have to keep shooting.' The first thing I thought when I came off, I saw he was sitting back off me a little bit. I thought if he never let me get into my rhythm, then I'm going to shoot it. I never let my confidence go."

On the team's goals heading into the conference tournament
"Our goal is just to take it one game at a time. The ultimate goal is to be sitting there on that Sunday wondering who we're going to be playing (in the NCAA Tournament). That's everybody's goal. I think this team has the players, the coaches and the people behind it to put those three games together and make it happen. We know we can beat anybody in The Valley -- we just have to play our best. We're looking forward to this full week practice and preparation and then taking it to them."