Bears Use Strong Second Half To Top Sycamores, 69-63

Box Score

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Indiana State men's basketball team fell for the first time inside Hulman Center this season on Saturday, as the Missouri State Bears outscored ISU by 13 points in the second half to grab a Missouri Valley Conference road victory, 69-63.

The loss drops the Sycamores to 10-5 on the season and 1-3 in the MVC, while the Bears improve to 10-6 overall, 3-1 within the league.

The teams traded runs to start the contest, as the Sycamores started the game on a 6-2 spurt before the Bears came back with a 10-3 run of their own. ISU responded in kind, scoring the game's next eight points to take a 17-12 lead with 13:25 remaining in the half. Seniors Dwayne Lathan and Carl Richard each scored six points for ISU in the opening six and a half minutes of action.

Indiana State looked like they would take a double-digit lead into the locker room, after sophomore Jake Odum gave the Sycamores a 10-point lead, at 33-23, when the ISU point guard hit a runner in the paint with three seconds on the clock. Missouri State cut into the ISU lead, however, as junior Anthony Downing banked in a shot from beyond midcourt as the horn sounded to make the score 33-26 in favor of the Sycamores.

Lathan led all scorers at the break with 10 points, going a perfect 3-for-3 from long range.

Indiana State's lead stayed between five and nine points for the opening six minutes of the second half, before Missouri State began to take control of the game by attacking the rim. After a jumper by Lathan in the paint gave ISU a nine-point lead, at 43-34 with 13:40, MSU went on a 14-1 run over the following five minutes to go ahead 47-44 on a layup by senior Michael Bizoukas. The Sycamores were held without a field goal until the 8:22 mark, when senior Jordan Printy tied the score at 47-47 with a trey.

An 8-0 run for the Bears pushed their lead to 59-50 with 3:44 remaining in the game, as Downing and Bizoukas knocked down the only three-point attempts for the team in the second half during that run.

The Sycamores attempted a comeback, scoring nine of the next 11 points in the game in a 9-2 run over three minutes. A layup by Odum with 52 seconds remaining brought ISU back within two points, at 61-59.

The Bears secured the road victory at the free-throw line, knocking down 8-of-10 in the final minute of play while ISU went 2-of-6 from the field and missed both their attempts at the charity stripe.

Missouri State attacked the basket hard in the second half, scoring 20 of their 30 points from the field with shots in the paint. Indiana State struggled shooting in the final 20 minutes, going 11-of-30 (36.7%) from the field and just 2-of-12 (16.7%) from three-point range. MSU also outscored ISU by seven points at the free-throw line in the second half, as the Bears went 13-of-19 at the line while the Sycamores shot 6-of-13.

Lathan led ISU with 17 points for the game, while Richard joined his fellow senior in double figures with 16 points. Odum finished the game with six points, six assists and four rebounds. Missouri State put four scorers in double digits, led by Downing's 17.

Indiana State returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 10, when the Sycamores host in-state rival Evansville at 7:05 p.m. inside Hulman Center. The Purple Aces travel to Terre Haute at 7-7 on the season and 2-2 in the MVC, after falling at Illinois State on Saturday.