Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
ST. LOUIS -- The Indiana State Sycamores saw their four-game winning streak as a No. 5 seed at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament end with a 64-43 loss in the semifinals against No. 1 Creighton inside the Scottrade Center.
The Sycamores fell to 18-14 while Creighton improved to 26-7 and will advance to the MVC Tournament Championship Game for the second consecutive year.
Manny Arop led the Sycamores with 13 points on the strength of a 5-of-11 shooting effort from the floor to go with four rebounds. Brandon Burnett scored a career-high eight points with four rebounds.
Creighton hit 16-of-26 shots in the first half (61.5 percent) and finished the game by hitting 53.5 percent from the field. ISU was limited to a 13-of-49 mark from the field (26.5 percent) and were 1-of-13 from 3-point range. ISU did hit 16-of-19 free throws and posted seven steals.
Dawon Cummings scored first for Indiana State as his 18-foot jumper on the left wing answered a Creighton 3-pointer to begin the contest as the Sycamores trailed 3-2 less than 40 seconds into the contest. The 'Jays went on to score the next 11 points of the game before Jake Odum converted a conventional 3-point play at the 14:35 mark to cut the Creighton advantage down to 14-5.
Khristian Smith would hit a jumper with 12:44 left in the first half, to cut the Creighton lead down to 16-9. The 'Jays would go on to score the game's next 18 points over a span of nerly seven minutes which finally ended with a pair of free throws by Jake Kitchell at the 5:56 mark which cut the lead down to 34-11.
Creighton moved ahead 39-11, but Gant ended the drought with a short jumper in the paint at the 3:35 mark to make it 39-13. The Sycamores scored five in a row to get within 39-16 and a pair of Odum free throws with four seconds left made it 41-18.
The 'Jays were lights out in the first half, hitting 61.5 percent, including 72.7 percent from 3-point range.
Manny Arop scored the first four points for the Sycamores in the second half and trailed 47-22 with 17:15 on the clock. Brandon Burnett scored his first points of the MVC Tournament with a lay-up as the clock ticked under 12 minutes to go which cut the Creighton lead to 51-26.
Cummings hit a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining in the contest which cut the Bluejay advantage to 64-41 which avoided the Sycamores going without a trey for the first time since December of 2008. Brandon Burnett scored the final points for ISU in the tournament at the 1:16 mark for a final score of 64-43.
The Larry Bird MVC Player Of The Year Doug McDermott paced the Bluejays with 25 points.
Indiana State will wait to hear its postseason fate on Sunday, March 17. The Sycamores will be appearing in one of college basketball's postseason tournaments for the fourth consecutive season when the nation's postseason fields are announced.
