TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State enjoyed its best offensive output of the season as the Sycamores earned an 80-78 victory over Evansville in the in-state clash of MVC foes in front of a season-high 6,790 fans inside Hulman Center.

The Sycamores improved to 11-5, 2-3 MVC while the Purple Aces fell to 7-8, 2-3 MVC.

ISU hit 26-of-47 shots from the field (55.3 percent) and hit 23-of-26 shots from the free throw line (88.5 percent) en route to victory. ISU was led by 15 points from sophomore Jake Odum, who went 8-of-8 at the free throw line while Dwayne Lathan added 14 and Lucas Eitel posted a career-best 12 points.

ISU led 77-72 with 27 seconds left after Odum hit a pair of free throws but Ned Cox, who finished the game with 22 points, drained a 3-pointer just seconds later to tighten the contest at 77-75.

Odum hit two more free throws with 20 seconds left to lift the advantage back up to 79-75. ISU played picture perfect defense but Evansville would not go away as Jordan Nelson drained a deep 3-pointer with nine seconds to go to trim the Sycamore advantage down to one point.

Lathan was fouled by Cox with 5.1 seconds left and hit 1-of-2 free throws as ISU held on to an 80-78 lead. Evansville was out of timeouts, and Kenny Harris dribbled all the way to the 3-point line, but his game winning attempt was long as the Sycamores held on for victory to break a two-game losing skid.

Evansville was hot early, building a 13-4 lead just six minutes into the game. The Sycamore whitled the lead all the way down to 27-26 on a Jordan Printy trey with 5:54 to go before the break and before the Purple Aces answered with three in a row to take a 30-26 advantage.

ISU scored the game's next 12 points on a run that was kick started by a Jake Kitchell 3-pointer at the 4:47 mark. Printy gave ISU the lead for good with another triple on the Sycamores' next possession at 32-20 with 4:23 to go.

The Sycamores received back-to-back conventional 3-point plays from Lathan and RJ Mahurin for the 38-30 cushion with just under three minutes to go. ISU led 42-35 with a minute to go, got a defensive stop and Odum buried a turn around jumper at the buzzer for the 44-35 halftime lead.

ISU's lead grew to as 11 at 48-37 on a Myles Walker jumper just two minutes into the second half and a conventional 3-point play by Eitel at the 11:34 mark pushed the lead out to 58-51.

Evansville scored seven of the game's next 10 points to cut the ISU lead down to 60-58 over the next three minutes before the Sycamores countered with the game's next nine points for a 69-58 cushion with just over five minutes to go.

Most of the recent games against the Purple Aces have been close and this one would be no exception as Evansville heated up from long rage to cut the lead down for the exciting finish while ISU was solid from the charity stripe down the stretch.

The Sycamores limited Evansville to just 42.1 percent shooting, but eight of the Purple Aces' 24 field goals were from long range. While ISU hit 88.5 percent of its free throws, Evansville connected on 22-of-25 (88 percent) in the game.

ISU committed 16 turnovers, which Evansville converted into 22 points. The Sycamores posted a season-high 20 assists in the game, led by seven from Odum.

Evansville put four players in double figures scoring, led by Cox's 22. Colt Ryan finished with 17 points, including 12 in the first half. Kenny Harris added 14 while Troy Taylor had 12 to go with his seven assists.

The Sycamores return to action on Friday, January 13 when they travel to Southern Illinois. The game will begin at 8:05 p.m. (ET) and will be televised in the Wabash Valley on WAWV-TV.