Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The amount of fight displayed by the Indiana State Sycamores on the Senior Night of Justin Gant and Jake Kitchell was off the charts, but the visiting and No. 11 nationally-ranked Wichita State Shockers used an early second half and late game run to earn the 63-53 victory in front of 6,169 fans inside Hulman Center.
Indiana State fell to 14-15, 10-7 MVC while the Shockers improved to 26-3, 16-1 MVC. The Sycamores are currently in a tie with Illinois State for third place in the MVC standings as Indiana State heads to Bradley for its regular season finale while the Redbirds travel to Evansville. All 10 league teams play their final games before Arch Madness on Saturday, February 28.
Khristian Smith paced the Sycamore effort with 20 points as he was 6-of-11 from the field, hit both of his 3-point attempts and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Smith also paced the Sycamores in rebounding with seven. Wichita State won the battle of the boards 40-33, but it was Indiana State with a 15-10 edge in second chance points.
Tre' Bennett came off the bench to score 10 points to go with two assists and one steal. The Indiana State bench held a 17-6 edge of the Wichita State reserves.
Indiana State was held to 34 percent shooting, but beaten only slightly from the field as Wichita State hit 40.3 percent of their shots. The Sycamores hit five 3-pointers and limited the Shockers to just 2-of-17 shooting from distance (11.8 percent). Indiana State hit 14-of-17 attempts from the free throw line (82.4 percent).
Smith scored his first two points at the free throw line and a dunk in transition by Gant pushed the Sycamores to a 4-0 advantage. After Darius Carter scored first for Wichita State, Brenton Scott drained a jumper and the Sycamores led 6-2 at the 17:09 mark of the first half. The Shockers would draw within two points, but a quick 5-0 run by the Sycamores, including a Gant jumper and a conventional 3-point play by T.J. Bell pushed Indiana State ahead 11-4.
Bell kept the Shockers at bay with two perfect trips to the free throw line and the Sycamore lead was 15-9 with 9:30 left in the first half. A 10-0 Shocker run was answered by a Gant dunk with 6:35 on the clock to get the Sycamores within 19-17. The two teams battled back and forth until five points in a row by the Shockers late in the period gave Wichita a 28-21 advantage. Bennett drained a 3-pointer with 29 seconds to go as the Shockers owned a 28-24 lead at the half. Bell paced the Sycamores with seven points.
The Shockers scored the first nine points of the second half to take a 37-24 lead with 16:32 to go. Smith hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead down to 11 and then he hit a 3-pointer to get the Sycamores within 37-29. He came back with another after a defensive stop and the Sycamores were within five points. After Cotton and Bennett traded baskets, the Shockers stretched their advantage out to 43-34 on a VanVleet lay-up with 13:09 remaining.
The Sycamores made their run with a Bennett trifecta, a Smith jumper and then a free throw from Scott with 10:09 remaining to get within 45-42. Wichita made it a five-point advantage, but Smith would hit a tough jumper and then a second-chance bucket by Kitchell with 5:57 to go cut the Wichita lead down to just 49-48.
Wichita State scored four more in a row, but Gant answered with a free throw and the Shocker lead was 53-49 with 4:11 on the clock. The Shockers would go on to score the next six points for a 10-point advantage until Kitchell hit a 3-pointer with 1:07 to go to cut it down a seven-point range. A free throw by Scott with 52 seconds remaining got the Sycamores within eight points, but Wichita State hit two more charity tosses down the stretch for the 63-53 victory.
Three Shockers reached double figures scoring, including a game-high 20 points from Darius Carter. VanVleet added 15 and Tekele Cotton scored 12.
Indiana State closes out the regular season on the road against Bradley on Saturday, February 28. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. (ET).
