Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Despite a career-high 18 points from Devonte Brown, the Sycamores fell 63-62 on a last second 3-pointer from Tulsa's James Woodard in the opening round of the Great Alaska Shootout.
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ISU fell to 3-2 while Tulsa improved to 1-4.
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Brown scored his 18 points by virtue of a 4-of-5 shooting performance from the field, including a 2-of-3 mark from 3-point range. He also aded eight free throws.
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Tulsa was limited to just 20-of-52 shooting (38.5 percent) while the Sycamores were 20-of-48 (41.7 percent). ISU hit six 3-pointers in the second half and had seven for the game. Brown and Jake Kitchell each had five rebounds to pace the Sycamores.
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Just as he did in the last game against Truman State, Justin Gant started off the scoring on the Sycamores' first possession with a jumper in the paint for a quick 2-0 advantage. Jake Kitchell then banked a jumper home to level the score at four points before Gant scored again at the 17:15 mark to get the Sycamores within 7-6.
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Devonte Brown came off the bench to score six points in a row for the Sycamores and his 3-pointer -- the only one of the first half for Indiana State -- got ISU within 16-12 at the 9:11 mark.
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A Rashad Ray lay-up with 1:35 remaining stretched the Tulsa lead out to 25-18, but the Sycamores got four quick points from Jake Odum with just over a minute remaining to get the Sycamores within 25-22 and then Dawon Cummings found Khristian Smith for a thundering dunk with just over 30 seconds on the clock and the defense stood tall as ISU got the Golden Hurricane lead down to just 25-24 heading into the half.
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The Sycamores ended the first half on a 6-0 run with Odum and Brown leading the Sycamores with six points each at the break. Indiana State was 1-of-9 from 3-point range before the half.
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Dawon Cummings got the Sycamores off the 3-point snide with just over 18 minutes remaining to give Indiana State its first lead since early the contest at 29-28. After Tulsa knotted the contest at 29, Gant regained the lead for the Sycamores with 16:38 on the clock at 31-29. Jake Kitchell hit his second triple of the season to stretch the lead out to 34-29 with 15:47 remaining.
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Tulsa got as close as a point at 34-33 but Manny Arop answered with a 3-pointer as the clock ticked under 14 minutes left to stretch the lead back out to 37-33. The Golden Hurricane came back with four points in a row to tie, but Smith and Brown each made free throws to regain a 41-37 advantage.
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Dawon Cummings then came down with a steal and found Brown on the fast break. He was fouled and hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Sycamores a 42-37 cushion with just over nine minutes remaining.
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Tulsa hit a 3-pointer, but Brown answered with a deep trey of his own at the 8:38 mark to reestablish the 45-40 advantage. The Golden Hurricane then hit back-to-back 3-pointers as the Sycamores came up empty and fell behind by a point. Arop stopped the 6-0 Tulsa run with a trey at the seven minute mark for the 48-46 lead. Tulsa hit a trey for their third consecutive trip down the floor to regain the lead at 49-48 with 6:34 left.
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After the Golden Hurricane took a 52-49 lead, Devonte Brown converted a conventional 3-point play with 4:31 remaining to level the score at 52. Arop made the run 6-0 with his 3-pointer with 3:40 on the clock to get ISU back out ahead 55-52. The answer for Tulsa was scoring the next four points to surge ahead 56-55 with 2:44 left.
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Trailing 56-55, Dawon Cummings buried a jumper off the feed from Odum with 2:25 remaining on an out of bounds play to give the Sycamores a 57-56 lead. Odum then forced a Tulsa turnover and hit a jumper himself with 1:40 on the clock to stretch the lead out to 59-56. The Golden Hurricane answered to get within a point before Devonte Brown was fouled on a baseline drive.
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Brown hit a pair of free throws with 51.3 seconds on the clock for a 61-58 Sycamore lead and Greg Lansing called a timeout. After Tulsa scored with 25.3 seconds on the clock, Brown was fouled with 22.3 on the clock. He strolled to the free throw line and hit 1-of-2 for a 62-60 lead.
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James Woodard hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds left for the 63-62 lead and the Sycamores could not score at the buzzer. Woodard led Tulsa with 24 points.
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Indiana State returns to action at 4 p.m. (ET) against the loser of Alaska-Anchorage and Texas Christian on Friday, November 29.
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