EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Indiana State withstood a pair of furious Evansville second half rallies, but the defense clamped down for the Sycamores for the final time in double overtime as ISU earned an 90-81 road victory at the Ford Center in front of 5,836 fans.
ISU won for the second consecutive game and improved to 13-9, 4-7 MVC while Evansville dropped to 10-11, 5-6 MVC. The win for ISU marked the seventh straight season that there has been a sweep in the two-game regular season MVC series between the two clubs.
Dwayne Lathan led ISU with a career-high tying 27 points while Steve McWhorter added 12 and Jake Odum tallied 10.
The Sycamores shot 53.4 percent from the field (31-of-58), including a mark of 8-of-20 from 3-point range and hit 20-of-26 free throws. The Sycamores won the rebounding battle by a margin of 34-33.
The win was the first for the Sycamores on the road in MVC play this season and marked Indiana State's first overtime victory over head coach Greg Lansing in three tries.
Tied at 79, the Sycamores got a defensive stop to start the second overtime period, and Lathan was fouled going to the basket with 4:18 on the clock. Lathan hit both free throws as the Sycamores went ahead 81-79. After the Sycamores got another defensive stop, Mahurin hit 1-of-2 free throws with 3:19 to go as ISU stretched the double overtime lead out to 82-79.
ISU once again got a defensive stop and Mahurin hit a wide-open lay-up with 1:40 to go as the Syamores now led 84-79. Lathan gave the Sycamores an 86-79 lead as he tied a career-high with 27 points and the McWhorter hit another to make it 87-79 with 1:01 left in double overtime.
Colt Ryan scored first for either team in overtime to give the Purple Aces a 68-66 lead, but McWhorter answered with a 3-pointer with 3:35 left as ISU retook the lead at 69-68. After a Sycamore defensive stop, Odum missed a runner but got the tip-in to go as ISU made it a 71-68 lead as the clock went under three minutes in the extra period.
Evansville scored the game's next four points to move ahead 72-71, but Odum was fouled on the Sycamores' ensuing possession. Odum would go on to hit both of the charity tosses as ISU regained a 73-72 advantage. Colt Ryan likewise was fouled and hit both of his shots as the Purple Aces led 74-73 as the clock ticked down towards a minute left in overtime.
The second half belonged to Lathan and hit conventional 3-point play with 55 seconds left staked ISU to a 76-74 lead. Denver Holmes hit one himself for Evansville as the Purple Aces went back ahead by one with 40 seconds left. With 20 seconds left, Richard rattled home a jumper for the 78-77 lead. Ryan missed a jumper with 7 seconds left and Richard hauled in the rebound and was fouled, sending him to the line for two shots.
Leading 78-77, Richard hit 1-of-2 free throws to take a 79-77 lead but McWhorter was whistled for a foul and Ryan hit both free throws to knot the contest at 79. Odum's long heave at the buzzer feel short to send the game to a second overtime.
Leading 62-61 with 3:40 left, RJ Mahurin stepped to the free throw line and stroked a pair of charity tosses to give the Sycamores a 64-61 cushion. But as most of the second half went, Evansville's Troy Taylor answered with a jumper to bring the Purple Aces back within a point.
But also hot in the second half for ISU was senior Dwayne Lathan and hit a jumper in the paint with 2:40 left to run the lead back out to 66-63. Both teams came up empty for a possession before Kenny Harris tallied a conventional 3-point play with 1:55 to go which tied the score at 66.
Evansville had two cracks at it in the final minute and the Sycamores had it once but neither team capitalized as the Sycamores and Purple Aces ended regulation tied at 66 to send ISU to its first overtime game of the season.
The Sycamores led by as many as 14 points in the first half and were up 11 at the half. An early second half 7-0 run by the Purple Aces cut the Sycamore lead down to just 48-44, but ISU answered right back with 8-0 spurt to stretch the lead back out to 56-44 as the clock ticked under 13 minutes to go. The run featured a thunderous fastbreak dunk by Dwayne Lathan with 13:11 to go as Lathan scored six of ISU's eight points in the spurt.
Evansville responded by churning out another run, this one a 9-0 grinder that lasted over five minutes as the Purple Aces cut the lead down to 56-53. Jordan Printy stopped that run with a 3-pointer at the seven minute mark as the Sycamores stretched the lead out to 59-53. Evansville scored the game's next five points and ISU held the ball with a slim 59-58 lead.
The answer for ISU was a conventional 3-point play by Steve McWhorter with 4:41 on the clock which gave the Sycamores a 62-58 advantage. Denver Holmes kept Evansville within arms length as he grabbed a lose ball with just under four minutes left and stroked a long 3-pointer to draw the Purple Aces within a point.
Indiana State drew first blood and took a 2-0 lead on a Walker bucket in the paint off the feed from Odum just 20 seconds in, but Evansville countered by scoring the next six points. The Purple Aces run lasted until Jordan Printy drained a triple with 17 minutes to go to cut UE lead down to 6-5. The Sycamore defense got a stop and Lathan hit a driving lay-up on the next poessesion as the Sycamores grabbed an 7-6 advantage.
After an Evansville basket, Indiana State went on a 6-0 run which started with back-to-back baskets on a set piece to Carl Richard and then a Lathan breakaway dunk off a hustle play steal by Odum with 15:30 left in the first half. ISU continued its strong defense with another steal that resulted in a Richard lay-up as the clock ticked under 15 minutes as the Sycamores stretched the lead out to 13-8.
Eitel with back-to-back 3-pointers after Evansville closed the gap down to one point to take a 19-12 lead with just over 11 minutes to go in the opening stanza. ISU maintained a 23-17 lead with 8:36 remaining until Walker hit Richard on a high-low opportunity as the Sycamores stretched is cushion out to eight points. Printy then gave the Sycamores a 28-18 lead with seven minutes left following a 3-pointer off a baseline drive from Odum.
The Sycamores did allow a bucke but then stayed hot from 3-point range with a Steve McWhorter 3-pointer to stretch the lead out to 31-21 with 5:40 left before the half. The Sycamores hit 5 of their first 7 attempts from 3-point range. Mahurin followed up another stop with a pair of free throws with 5:16 on the clock as the lead grew to 33-21.
Lathan scored consecutive baskets for ISU, the first off a dribble drive and the second off a down court pass following a steal by Justin Gant which resulted in a dunk as the lead the Sycamore lead grew to 37-23 with just over four minutes left and forced the Purple Aces to call their second timeout of the opening stanza. UE scored five in a row, but Odum had the answer with a 3-pointer as ISU's lead reached 40-27 with 2:18 on the clock.
Evansville hit four free throws to cut the lead down to 40-31, before Gant scored on a lay-up with 40 seconds left to make it 42-31. Colt Ryan missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Sycamores owned that same 11-point lead at halftime.
Walker scored first for ISU in the second half and then Lathan hit a pair of free throws as the clock ticked down towards 18 minutes to go as ISU was able to sustain its early 11-point lead at 46-35. Ryan answered the Lathan free throws with a 3-pointer but Lathan rattled the rim with an alley-oop to give the Sycamores a 48-38 lead.
Following the Lathan dunk, Evansville scored seven quick points and cut the Sycamore lead down to 48-44 less than three and a half minutes into the second half. Gant stopped the bleeding for ISU when he hit a short jumper at the 16:13 mark to stretch the Sycamore lead back out to 50-44.
Colt Ryan led Evansville with 23 points, hitting a perfect 10-of-10 free throws.
Indiana State continues MVC play on Wednesday, February 1 when the Sycamores host Drake inside Hulman Center. Tip-off is slated for 8:05 p.m. (ET) in a game that will be televised live on the MVC TV Network.
