Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- It was a historic evening in Terre Haute as the Indiana State Sycamores notched career win No. 100 for sixth-year head coach Greg Lansing and wrapped up non-conference play with a 73-61 win over in-state rival Ball State in front of 3,256 fans inside Hulman Center.
The Sycamores have now won three in a row and evened their record at 6-6 while Ball State fell to 7-4. Lansing earned his 100th career victory and is the sixth head coach in the history of the program to win that many games. The Sycamores have now won three in a row over the Cardinals inside Hulman Center and four of the last five in the series.
Leading the way for the Sycamores was the play of sophomore Brenton Scott who scored 19 points, 14 of which came in the first half. Scott was 6-of-10 from the field, hit a pair of 3-pointers while pulling down three rebounds and dishing out three assists with two steals. Khristian Smith continued his march to 1,000 career points as he scored 17 and hauled in a team-high eight rebounds. Smith now needs 12 more points to reach the 1,000 point club. Also in double figures was the reigning Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week Matt Van Scyoc who scored 15 and hit a trio of 3-pointers.
Indiana State owned the boards by a 41-36 margin and scored 11 second chance points. For the game, the Sycamores hit 24-of-54 shots from the field (44.4 percent). The Sycamore defense which leads the MVC in field goal percentage defense allowed just 38.6 percent shooting from the Cardinal offense.
Of Lansing's 100 career victories, 68 of them have now come when holding the opposition to 63 points or less.
Ball State scored first on a 3-pointer from Trey Moses, but then came back with four points in a row by Brandon Murphy to retake the lead. A pair of Brenton Scott free throws at the 11:39 mark staked the Sycamores to a 12-11 lead while his 3-pointer two minutes later raced the Sycamores ahead 17-12.
Indiana State used a 9-2 run which began with a Matt Van Scyoc jumper at the 7:25 mark and continued with another bucket from Van Scyoc as well as triple from Scott and a lay-up by Murphy off the feed from Everett Clemons for a 30-18 lead with just under six minutes left in the first half. The Cardinals whittled the lead down to 30-24, but a pair of Van Scyoc free throws and a one more charity toss by Smith staked the Sycamores to a 33-24 halftime lead. The Cardinals were held scoreless over the final 3:45 of the first half.
The Cardinals scored the first four points of the second half, before the Sycamores countered with a 7-0 run which included a conventional 3-point play by Devonte Brown as well as a trifecta by Van Scyoc with 16:15 to go for the 40-28 lead. Ball State did not go away as a Jeremie Tyler lay-up with 13:15 to go cut the advantage down to 43-38. Smith came up with a big shot to stem the tide as he drilled a 3-pointer two possessions later for the eight points lead. It kickstarted another 7-0 run which Smith concluded with a tip-in at the 10:40 mark for a 50-38 cushion.
Ball State made one final stand to get the Sycamore lead down to just 59-53 with 5:39 to go, but the Sycamores scored the next six at the free throw line as well as Van Scyoc's third 3-pointer at the 3:27 mark for a 65-53 lead. Brandon Murphy scored last for the Sycamores on a fast break dunk with 14 seconds to go and the 73-59 lead.
The Cardinals had four double digit scorers including Franko House who scored 15.
Indiana State returns to action on Wednesday, December 30 when they open Missouri Valley Conference play at Evansville. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. (ET) and will be televised world-wide on The Valley On ESPN3.
