Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Indiana State Sycamores limited the visiting and nationally-ranked No. 14/15 Northern Iowa Panthers to just 26.9 percent shooting in the second half but it proved to not be enough as UNI earned a 61-51 victory inside Hulman Center.
The Sycamores fell to 11-12, 7-4 MVC while Northern Iowa improved to 21-2, 10-1 MVC. Indiana State will remain in third place while the Panthers take a half game lead in the overall standings over Wichita State.
Devonte Brown paced the team with 14 points as he hit 5-of-10 shots from the field, including a 3-pointer to go with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jake Kitchell scored seven points and pulled down nine rebounds in the contest while adding three assists.
Seven different Sycamores hit one 3-pointer each. UNI owned a narrow 34-30 edge on the glass while each team turned the ball over 12 times.
Brenton Scott took advantage of an early UNI turnover to stake the Sycamores to a quick 2-0 advantage which was answered by a 3-pointer from Seth Tuttle. After UNi stretched the lead to four, Brown knocked the lead down to one with a trifecta of his own. The Panthers scored inside and Gant hit another Sycamore triple to level the score at eight with 14:14 to go.
The Panthers scored the game's next nine points before a Tre' Bennett 3-pointer at the 10:16 mark drew the Sycamores within 17-11. It would prove to be a 6-0 Indiana State run before consecutive lay-ups by Brown and TJ Bell got the Trees within six points. Khristian Smith kept the Sycamores within striking distance with a 3-pointer at the four minute mark and a Brown lay-up made it 28-22 as the clock ticked towards the two minute mark.
UNI scored the final five points of the half to take a 33-22 lead into the locker room. Brown scored seven points in the first half to pace Indiana State. The game was played at a continous rate for most of the first half as the first media timeout was not taken until the 6:15 mark on the clock.
Jeremy Morgan hit a 3-pointer early after halftime to make it an 8-0 Panther run around the half but Kitchell hit short jumper to get the Sycamores within 36-24 with 18:15 to go.
A Jespersen 3-pointer at the 9:59 mark ran the Panther lead out to 49-31, but the Sycamores scored a lay-up by Brown and then consecutive charity tosses by Etherington and Brown to get within 49-35 at the 8:30 mark. After UNI ran the advantage back out to 16 points, Kitchell scored on an open lay-up with 6:28 to go to cut the Panther edge down to 51-37. After Tuttle was whistled for an offensive foul, Khristian Smith diced through the lane on the next possession to get the Sycamores within 12. Smith then scored again off the feed from Kitchell in response to a pair of Nate Buss charity tosses and UNI led 53-41.
The Sycamores continued to battle when Kitchell stepped out to hit a 3-pointer with three minutes remaining to cut the UNI lead down to 57-46.
Seth Tuttle paced the Panthers with 15 points, eight rebouonds and five assists.
Indiana State hits the road on Saturday, February 7 when they travel to Loyola. Tip-off at the Gentile Center is set for 4:00 p.m. (ET). The game can be seen live locally on WAWV-TV as well as worldwide on ESPN3 and ESPN Full Court.
