Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Indiana State was able to stretch a seven-point halftime lead up to as many as nine points with just under 10 minutes left against Minnesota, but the Golden Gophers stormed ahead late to earn a 76-69 victory in the semifinals of the 2011 Old Spice Classic in front of 3,377 fans at HP Field House located at Walt Disney World Resort.
Minnesota improves to 6-0 on the young season while the Sycamores fell to 5-1, ending Indiana State's five-game winning streak.
The Sycamores were led in scoring by Jordan Printy who scored 14 points and was 4-of-8 from 3-point land in the game. Printy now has 168 career treys which is second-most in the history of the Indiana State basketball program.
RJ Mahurin tallied a career-high 12 points off the bench, as he was also 4-of-8 from long range. Jake Odum posted 13 points and dished out seven assists. Dwayne Lathan added nine points as did Carl Richard.
The Sycamores railed 29-24 with 5:08 left in the first half, but Mahurin drilled a 3-point field goal on the next possession to close the gap 29-27. ISU regained a lead it enjoyed early in the game on a Printy trey with 4:03 left in the first half to go up 30-29.
Minnesota briefly regained the lead at 31-30 on a pair of free throws until Printy drained another 3-pointer to push the Sycamores ahead 33-31. Printy's driving lay-up at the 2:04 mark made it 35-31, before Minnesota's Chip Armelin scored with 1:28 to go to make it 35-33.
Richard hit a jumper with 59 seconds on the clock and Mahruin poured in another 3-pointer with four seconds remaining to send the Sycamores to the locker room up 40-33.
Andre Hollins hit a 3-pointer with 10:26 left in the contest to trim the ISU lead down to 54-49, but the Sycamores scored the next four points to take a 58-49 advantage on free throws by Lathan and Odum with 9:18 to go.
The Golden Gophers scored the game's next eight points to make it 58-57 in favor of the Trees with 5:20 on the clock, but the Sycamores scored the game's next four on a Odum lay-up and a pair of charity tosses by Lathan to make it 62-57 at the 4:48 mark.
Minnesota went on a 6-0 spurt to retake the lead at 63-62 a minute later, before McWhorter drove the glass for a lay-up to give ISU a 64-63 lead. After Minnesota regained a point lead, Myles Walker hit a pair of free throws as took its final lead of the game at 66-65 with 2:29 left.
ISU trailed 69-66 with just under a minute remaining and got a wide-open look for McWhorter who was just short on a 3-point attempt. Mahurin hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game in the final 20 seconds of the game, but the Golden Gophers were true from the free throw line and went on to take the 76-69 victory.
Minnesota was led in scoring by Julian Welch who had 17 points off the bench.
The Sycamore defense forced 15 Minnesota turnovers and converted them into 15 points.
ISU will wrap up play in the 2011 Old Spice Classic against the loser of the Dayton/Fairfield contest in the Consolation contest for third place in the tournament on Sunday, November 27. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. (ET) and will be televised on ESPN 2.
