Indiana State improved to 7-7, 2-1 MVC while the Redbirds fell to 8-6, 0-3 MVC. The victory was ISU's 10th in a row at home and improved the Sycamores to a perfect 5-0 this season inside Hulman Center under first-year head coach Greg Lansing.

The Sycamores were not able to play leading scorer (4th in the MVC) Dwayne Lathan due to effects of a concussion suffered at Evansville and senior guard Jake Kelly (second leading scorer on the team) missed his third contest in a row with a foot injury. Four Sycamores stepped up to fill the void, including senior Aaron Carter who paced the team with 14 points while freshman guard Jake Odum reached double figures for the second consecutive game as he scored 13. Off the bench, junior Jordan Printy was a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range in scoring 11 while freshman RJ Mahurin scored 10.

As a team, the Sycamores hit 23-of-49 shots from the field (46.9 percent) and fell one triple shy of a season-best as they connected on 11 shots from 3-point range. ISU owned a 31-27 advantage on the boards and posted a 15/8 assist to turnover ratio. ISU received 26 of their 72 points off the bench.

ISU improved to 5-0 on the season when holding opponents to less than 63 points by limiting the Redbirds to 19-of-46 shooting (41.3 percent), including a mark of 3-of-15 from 3-point range (20 percent). ISU forced 12 Redbird turnovers and converted them into seven points.

Illinois State hit their first four shots from the field in the contest and owned their largest lead of the game just two minutes in a 6-2. With the Redbirds leading 10-9 at the 16:13 mark of the first half, Steve McWhorter - who earned his first collegiate start versus Illinois State - drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to push the Sycamores ahead 12-10. The contest was tied at 14-all just seven minutes in but a pair of RJ Mahurin free throws made it 16-14 and then Mahurin connected on a triple to make it 19-14.

ISU's 23-22 lead with 8:31 remaining in the opening stanza was bumped to 26-22 on a 3-pointer by Odum but once against the Redbirds fought the team down to 26-24 before the Sycamores scored the game's next four points for a 30-24 advantage and then gave up a bucket and used a lay-up by Koang Duluony and a three by Printy to make it 35-26. The Redbirds answered with a trey by John Wilkins, but Duluony countered with a triple of his own for a 38-29 advantage at the 3:37 mark.

The Sycamores got another trey by Printy and a Myles Walker lay-up with 34 seconds left to take a 43-31 lead into the locker room.

The second half opened with back-to-back Illinois State 3-pointers which cut the ISU advantage down to 43-37 with 16:14 on the clock, but ISU scored the game's next five points, including Printy's third 3-pointer of the game to make it 48-37 with 14:03 to go. That 3-pointer gave Printy 118 for his career, tying him for ninth on ISU's career list with the recently graduated Rashad Reed.

Illinois State got the Sycamore cushion down to seven points twice, including 54-47 with 7:31 to go, but ISU scored on back-to-back trips of perfection at the free throw line to make it 58-47 with six minutes remaining. A 3-pointer by Carter with 5:35 on the clock made it 63-49 before two charity tosses from Illinois State's Jackie Carmichael made it 63-51 with 3:34 to go. The Sycamores were able to score the game's next six points, including another Carter 3-pointer with 2:48 left to make it 69-51 with 1:44 left. The Sycamore added three more free throws the rest of the way in earning the 72-57 victory.

Indiana State has now won four consecutive games at home against Illinois State and are 2-1 to start MVC play for the second consecutive season. ISU is now 10-2 in its in last 12 games at Hulman Center. ISU has placed four scorers in double figures now in two consecutive Valley home games.

The Sycamores leading rebounder in the contest was Walker who tallied nine caroms.

Illinois State was led in scoring by 16 points from Carmichael as they had three scorers reach double figures (Anthony Cousin with 12 and Wilkins with 11).

ISU stays at home for its next MVC contest as they host two-time defending league champion Northern Iowa Friday January 7 inside Hulman Center. Tip-off is slated for 7:05 p.m. (ET).