Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
NORMAL, Ill. -- Indiana State will finish the regular season with nine road victories, including five in Missouri Valley Conference play, which is second-best in the league. The Sycamores could not parlay that season-long road success in its final road game as Illinois State earned a 77-59 victory in front of 4,684 fans inside Redbird Arena.
The Sycamores fell to 21-8, 12-5 MVC while Illinois State improved to 16-13, 9-8 MVC. It marked the first time all season that Indiana State has dropped consecutive games.
Cummings paced Indiana State with 12 points while Jake Odum and Khristian Smith added nine each.
Illinois State hit each of their first six shots from the field -- including a trio of 3-pointers -- but only led 11-6 just over two minutes into the game as the Sycamores countered by scoring on three consecutive possessions.
A Khristian Smith jumper at the 13:59 mark trimmed the Illinois State cushion down to 20-12, but the Redbirds answered with nine in a row to stretch the lead out to 29-12. Cummings hit a jumper to stop the bleeding, but the Redbirds continued the spurt by scoring five more and led 34-14 with nine minutes remaining.
The Sycamore defense limited Illinois State to just eight points over the final nine minutes and scored four of the final five points of the half as Illinois State owned a 42-26 lead after the break. Indiana State had an open look at the halftime buzzer from three, but was just off. Khristian Smith paced the Sycamores with six points in the first half.
Indiana State started the second half strong with a steal and fastbreak lay-up from Smith which cut the Illinois State advantage down to 42-28. The Redbirds countered with five in a row before Cummings hit a trey with 18:24 left on the clock and the 'Birds owned a 47-31 lead.
Jake Odum went on a personal 4-0 run with a jumper and pair of free throws to cut the lead down to 53-37 at the 14:51 mark. Gant broke a three minute scoreless stretch with a jumper in the paint as the clock ticked under 12 minutes remaining to get within 58-39.
Arop and Eitel sandwhiched 3-pointers around a Dawon Cummings free throw to create a 7-0 run which cut the Redbird cushion down to 61-46 with just over eight minutes to go in the game. The run reached 10 in a row when Cummings buried a triple with 7:47 remaining and the Illinois State lead was whitted down to just 12 points.
Daishon Knight paced the Redbirds with 20 points.
The Sycamores conclude the regular season on Saturday, March 1 when they host Northern Iowa inside Hulman Center. It will be Senior Day for Jake Odum, Lucas Eitel, Manny Arop and Dawon Cummings. Tip-off for the ESPNU nationally-televised contest is set for 1:05 p.m. (ET).
