ST. LOUIS - Indiana State led by as many as 12 points in the first half against Illinois State in the quarterfinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, but the Redbirds came from behind and withstood a furious late Sycamore rally as the 'Birds earned a 69-65 victory in front of 10,182 fans at Scottrade Center.

ISU ends its MVC postseason run with a 17-14 record while Illinois State improved to 22-9.

Sophomore Dwayne Lathan led the way for Indiana State as he scored a career-high 27 points and posted his first career double-double as he tacked on a career-high 10 rebounds in the contest. Lathan was 9-of-16 from the field, including a blazing mark of 5-of-7 from 3-point range as well. Lathan added a pair of steals as well.

Joining Lathan in double figures was Rashad Reed, who scored 12 points and pulled down six rebounds.

Harry Marshall, who re-injured his foot early in the contest, finished with five points.

Overall, ISU hit 22-of-59 shots in the contest (37.3 percent). The Sycamores were 11-of-30 from 3-point range in the contest (36.7 percent).

Tony Lewis scored first for Illinois State to give the Redbirds a 2-0 lead, but Carl Richard answered with a 3-pointer 30 seconds later to give the Sycamores a 3-2 advantage. After the 'Birds scored the game's next five points, Jordan Printy had the answer with a triple of his own to trim the ILS lead down to 8-6 four minutes into the contest.

Illinois State surged ahead 10-9, but with 12:20 to go Aaron Carter hit the Sycamores' third 3-pointer of the first half to go back in front 12-10.

The Redbirds knotted the score at 12 on a pair of free throws by Jackie Carmichael with 11:56 left before an inside bucket by Isiah Martin put ISU ahead 16-12. An Alex Rubin triple trimmed the Sycamore lead to 16-15 before Lathan's trey with 8:02 on the clock broke a nearly 3-minute scoring drought and gave ISU a 19-15 cushion. Lathan then tacked on a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 21-15.

The Sycamores used a 9-0 run to take a 26-15 lead before Illinois State used a free throw from Carmichael to break a six minute scoring drought and make it 26-16 with 4:12 on the clock. On the Sycamores' next possession, Lathan scored his ninth point of the game on a driving lay-up in the paint to stretch the lead back out to 28-16.

ISU would not score again as Illinois State finished the half on a 12-0 run to knot the score at 28. The Redbird's Austin Hull scored the half's final 10 points by himself in knotting the contest.

Lathan paced the Sycamores with nine points in the opening stanza.

The Redbirds raced out to a 30-28 lead on a bucket by Dinma Odiakosa before the first points of the contest from Harry Marshall - a 3-pointer, gave ISU the lead again at 31-30 with 18:14 left in the contest. Marshall's bucket broke a nearly six-minute scoring drought for ISU to began with 3:54 remaining in the opening half.

Illinois State scored six points in a row to take a 36-31 and Marshall countered with a driving lay-up to cut into the cushion at 36-33 with 16:45 on the clock.

After the Redbirds stretched the lead out to 38-33, ISU scored the game's next four points to make it 38-37. An Illinois State bucket made it 40-37 before a Rashad Reed 3-pointer with 13:27 on the clock knotted the contest at 40. A Lathan 3-pointer with 12:54 left gave ISU a 43-40 advantage, but three straight from the Redbirds tied the game for the fourth time at 43 with 12:09 remaining.

A 3-pointer by Lathan with 11:06 on the clock gave ISU a 46-43 advantage as he tied his career-high with 18 points in the contest. Illinois State then got a pair of charity tosses with 10:47 on the clock to make it 46-45 and then Eldridge drained a 3-pointer with 9:52 remaining for a 48-46 Redbird lead. Eldridge went on to tack on another bucket for the 'Birds as they took a 50-46 lead with 8:59 remaining.

The 'Birds ran their lead out to 56-46, but ISU got points from Lathan on a drive to make it 56-58 and then a pair of Carter charity tosses made it 56-50 with 4:27 left as the Sycamores tried to claw their way back into the game.

Illinois State ran their lead out to 61-50 before Lathan reached 22 points for the contest on a driving lay-up with 2:22 left to cut the Redbird lead down to 61-52.

Lathan continued his scoring barrage with a 3-pointer to trim the Illinois State lead down to 64-57 as the clocked ticked under a minute to go. Lloyd Phillips ran the ILS lead back out to 65-57 with a free throw before Lathan connected on another triple to make it 65-60 with 38 seconds on the clock.

Eldrige hit 1-of-2 at the free throw line following a Sycamore foul and then Reed posted a driving lay-up with 29 seconds remaining to cut the Redbird cushion back to down to 66-62.

Following a pair of free throws from Alex Rubin, Rashad Reed connected on another 3-pointer with 9.8 seconds on the clock to rim the Illinois State lead down to 68-65. Lloyd Phillips added a free throw for the 69-65 victory.

Stayed tuned to GoSycamores.com over the coming weeks to learn of Indiana State's postseason fate.