Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
ST. THOMAS, USVI -- The Indiana State basketball team battled tooth and nail with Tulsa but it was the Hurricane who used a late run to take a 67-59 decision over the Sycamores in the semifinals of the 2015 Paradise Jam.
The Sycamores fell to 2-2 on the season while Tulsa remained undefeated with a 4-0 record. Indiana State will play at 6:30 p.m. (ET) on Monday, November 23 against the loser of tonight's South Carolina/Hofstra game for third place in the Paradise Jam. The game will be shown live nationally on CBS Sports Network. Indiana State has won at least two-of-three games in three multi-team events under the leadership of head coach Greg Lansing.
Devonte Brown and Khristian Smith led the Sycamores with 14 points each. Smith added six rebounds while Matt Van Scyoc paced the team with seven caroms. Tulsa won the rebounding battle by a 48-39 margin.
The Sycamores took a five point lead into the break and scored the first two points of the second half on a pair of Brandon Murphy free throws and added two more on a driving lay-up from Devonte Brown with 17:12 on the clock to stretch the lead out to 40-31. Tulsa answered with a 3-pointer, but Brandon Burnett countered with one of his own to stake the Sycamores to a 43-34 lead as the first media timeout neared.
Murphy ended a two minute scoring drought and a 6-0 Tulsa run with a lay-up off the feed from Grant Prusator to extend the cushion back out to 45-40 with 12:49 remaining. A conventional 3-point play by Tulsa with 12 minutes knotted the contest and then a turnover and quick lay-up from Shaquille Harrison pushed the Hurricane ahead 47-45 and forced the Sycamores to burn a timeout.
It took two possessions after that timeout, but Grant Prusator buried a 3-pointer from deep in the corner to push Indiana State ahead 48-47 with 11 minutes remaining. Harrison answered with a lay-up at the 10:32 mark to push Tulsa back ahead by a point.
The two squads continued to battle and Khristian Smith hit a long jumper with 8:30 remaining to push Indiana State ahead 52-51. Once again Tulsa countered with a pair of defensive stops and turned a Sycamore turnover into a Harrison fast break lay-up with seven minutes remaining to take a 55-52 lead. A big defensive rebound by Emondre Rickman was followed with a second-chance put back for him to cut the Tulsa lead down to just one as the clock ticked under the six minute mark.
A 3-pointer by Tulsa's Marquel Curtis with five minutes remaining was answered just 17 seconds later by Devonte Brown's driving lay-up as the Hurricane held a 58-56 lead. On defense with 2:38 remaining, Niels Bunschoten came up with a big rebound and was fouled. He hit both free throws in the double bonus to knot the game at 58.
The Hurricane scored on three consecutive trips a total of five points for a 63-58 lead with 48 seconds remaining. After one more Tulsa charity toss, Bunschoten hit one to cut the Hurricane lead down to 64-59 with 20 seconds on the clock.
Khristian Smith scored first in the game with an open 3-pointer in the corner just 10 seconds into the game, but it was Tulsa who would score the next ten points before Devonte Brown drove in for a lay-up at the 15:58 mark to cut the Hurricane lead down to 10-5.
The Sycamores would go on to score on their next three possessions with a Smith 3-pointer, an Everett Clemons lay-up and then a conventional 3-point play from Brenton Scott with just under 12 minutes to go as the Indiana State took a 17-15 lead. Scott's 3-point play was set up by a high-energy steal from Smith who got on the floor to make the play. Devonte Brown made it eight in a row for the Sycamores on another conventional 3-point play to stretch the lead out to 20-15 at the 10:38 mark.
A pair of Hurricane free throws at the 4:56 mark cut the lead down to two points, but the Sycamores stretched their cushion back out to 33-26 on a 3-pointer from Niels Bunschoten as well as a jumper by Brenton Scott with 3:18 left in the opening half. One free throw by Brown with 1:05 remaining as well as a huge defensive stop ended the half with the Sycamores ahead 36-31. Khristian Smith led the offensive charge with 12 points before the break.
Shaquille Harrison led the way for Tulsa with 24 points.
