Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – On Northern Iowa's Senior Night, the Sycamores completed a season series sweep over the Panthers by holding late for a 76-74 road victory.
ISU improves to 16-13, 11-6 MVC while UNI fell to 19-11, 10-7 MVC. With the victory, the Sycamores clinched the No. 3 seed at next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship in St. Louis. It is the highest seed for the Trees since the 1999-00 edition secured the No. 1 seed and the regular season championship. ISU finished the MVC road schedule with a 5-4 record, its first winning road league record since that same 1999-00 championship season.
ISU was paced by the play of Jordan Printy, who was returning to his native Iowa and he responded with 17 points, draining a season-high five 3-pointers. Jake Odum drilled 17 as well, including an 8-of-10 performance at the free throw line. RJ Mahurin came off the bench to tie a career-high with 11 points.
The Sycamores shot 48.9 percent from the field, hit 11 3-pointers and received 40 points off the bench.
Carl Richard opened the scoring with a basket just 22 seconds into the contest as the Sycamores were able to hold a lead for most of the first half. ISU led by as many as seven points in the first half, holding a 17-10 lead with 11:21 remaining on Jordan Printy's second 3-pointer in the opening stanza. The Sycamores earned the lead by connecting on three consecutive 3-pointers. After a Chip Rank triple fell with 10:47 to go in the opening stanza to make it 17-13, Myles Walker scored inside to restore the Sycamore lead out to 19-13.
Northern Iowa retook the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game on a 3-pointer by Jake Koch with 3:19 left on the clock as they surged ahead 28-26. Odum knotted the contest at 28-all with 2:02 remaining before Printy and Odum scored again to give the Sycamores a 32-28 advantage with one minute remaining. Koch hit two more free throws with 50 seconds remaining and an Aaron Carter 3-pointer glanced off the rim at the buzzer as the Sycamores went into the locker room holding a 32-30 lead.
Carter hit a driving jumper one minute into the second half to stretch the ISU advantage out to 34-30 before UNI briefly took a 35-34 advantage with 18:09 remaining on a Anthony James jump shot followed by a Johnny Moran 3-pointer. ISU's defense was able to hold UNI scoreless for a three minute stretch as Walker flushed home a dunk to retake the lead at 36-35 and then RJ Mahurin drained a 3-pointer with 16:30 to go to make it 39-35.
Mahurin broke a nearly three minute ISU scoring draught with his third triple of the contest with 13:52 on the clock as ISU was able to run its lead back out to 42-38. The Sycamores used a 7-0 run after the game was knotted at 42 with a 3-pointer by Steve McWhorter, a Walker lay-up and a Lathan driving jumper to take a 49-42 advantage.
Following a UNI called timeout which featured the now famous Interlude dance by the UNI Student body, the Panthers went on a short burst to make it 49-47.
The Sycamores made it 50-47 on a free throw by Odum and then he hit two more with 7:27 left which made it 52-47. ISU got two large 3-pointers from Printy in a key two minute stretch which saw the Sycamores lead grow as big as it had in the contest. His first came with 6:30 to go which made it 55-51 in favor of the Trees and his second was sandwhiched around a pair of Lathan charity tosses to give ISU a 60-51 lead with 4:36 on the clock.
After Kwadzo Ahelegbe hit a driving lay-up with 4:21 remaining, McWhorter answered with a pair of free throws to run the ISU lead back out to 62-53 with 4:14 on the clock. UNI cut the lead down to 62-56 on a Kerwin Dunham triple before Printy answered with his fifth trey of the game as ISU regained a 65-56 cushion. Dunham struck again with under three minutes to go, this time on a conventional 3-point play which made it 65-59 before Odum hit a pair of free throws as ISU moved ahead 67-59 with 2:20 remaining.
UNI scored the game's next five points to cut the ISU lead down to 67-64 on a conventional 3-point play by Moran with 1:37 to go. With 1:09 left Carter was fouled on a dribble drive and converted both to make it 69-64. James struck next for UNI at the one minute mark to cut the lead down to 69-66. After electing to play defense for an extended period, Odum was fouled with 38.5 seconds on the clock, to stretch the lead out to 71-66. James came right back to hit two free throws to make it 71-68 with 33 seconds to go.
The sparingly used Lucas Eitel stepped up big for ISU following the James charity tosses to hit two of his own to stretch the lead out to 73-70. ISU missed a shot with 15 seconds to go and set up UNI with a the ball, down by just three points. With 7.2 on the clock, Ahelegbe was fouled on a drive to basket and following a Sycamore timeout, he hit 1-of-2 to make it 73-71.
Carter was fouled right away and hit the both for a 75-71 advantage. Ahelegbe countered with a 3-pointer quickly to make it 75-74 before Odum was fouled with 2.1 seconds left on the clock. He hit 1-of-2 to give ISU a 76-74 lead. James was forced into an off-balance half court shot that fell short to give ISU its second victory at the McLeod Center in the last three seasons.
Indiana State concludes the regular season at home on Saturday, February 26 when the Sycamores host Southern Illinois on Senior Day inside Hulman Center. Tip-off is set for 1:05 p.m. (ET). The program will honor seniors Jake Kelly, Aaron Carter and Isiah Martin during the contest.
