ORLANDO, Fla. -- Indiana State led for a majority of Thursday's quarterfinal matchup with No. 21/22 Iowa State and had a clean look at the buzzer, but it was the Cyclones who escaped with a 73-71 victory at the ESPN Wide World of Sports on the campus of the Walt Disney World Resort in the Advocare Invitational.
Indiana State falls to 2-2 while Iowa State improved to 4-0. The Sycamores came within an eyelash of earning a school-record fifth victory over a nationally-ranked team under the leadership of head coach Greg Lansing.
Laquarious Paige came off the bench to shatter his previous career-best and scored 20 points behind an 8-of-12 shooting effort and a 3-of-4 mark from 3-point range. He added three rebounds and two blocked shots. Brenton Scott tallied 17 points and hit a trio of 3-pointers to go with six rebounds. Senior TJ Bell was solid throughout as he posted his first career double-double with career highs of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Indiana State hit 27-of-57 shots from the field (47.4 percent) and connected on 40.9 percent of their attempts from long range. Iowa State held a narrow 45-44 margin in the rebounding battle.
The Sycamores trailed by one point, but Jordan Barnes converted a pair of free throws with 4:41 remaining to push Indiana State ahead 66-65. After a defensive stop, TJ Bell converted a third chance bucket with 3:51 remaining to push him over double digits scoring for the first time in his career and five the Sycamores a 68-65 lead.
Monte Morris hit a lay-up with 1:36 remaining to tie the score at 69, before Scott hit a pair of charity tosses with 1:12 remaining to push the Sycamores ahead 71-69. Matt Thomas then hit a 3-pointer with 56 seconds to go which hit all sides of the rim while Scott had an open 3-point look at the buzzer which would have won it, but it went inside the cylinder and bounced out for the 73-71 defeat.
Paige already reached a career-high of 15 points in the first half and hit a 3-pointer early after halftime and Scott added another at the 16:06 mark as the Sycamores went ahead 48-45 of the Cyclones. But Iowa State, would go on to score nine in a row to force an Indiana State timeout with 12:31 on the clock as they took a 54-48 edge. Paige would stop the Cyclone run with a big second chance bucket at the 12:08 mark to draw within 54-50. Scott got the Sycamores within a pair as the clock ticked under 11 minutes and Jordan Barnes hit a 3-pointer with 10:04 remaining for the 55-54 lead and the 7-0 Sycamore run.
After Iowa State briefly retook the lead, Scott drained a deep with 3-pointer with 9:33 remaining to push the Sycamores ahead 58-56. Scott connected on another 3-pointer exactly one minute later to push the Sycamores ahead 61-58. After Iowa State drew within a point, Emondre Rickman found Clemons wide open to restore the 63-60 lead.
Brenton Scott got the scoring going on the first possession as he drilled a 3-pointer at the top of the key for a quick 3-0 advantage. Iowa State would take a 7-5 lead, but Laquarious Paige kicked started a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer and Scott capped it with a driving lay-up at the 15:22 mark for the 12-7 advantage. A Jordan Barnes steal and score was followed by a defensive stop and then Matt Van Scyoc 3-pointer in transition which netted the Sycamores 29-21 lead with 8:43 remaining before the break.
The Cyclones battled back to take a 34-33 lead before TJ Bell hit a turnaround jumper with 3:49 on the clock as the Sycamores regained the 35-34 edge. Iowa State took a four-point lead but Scott made his own luck in the paint and scored inside to cut the Cyclone lead down to just two points with 1:33 on the clock. A Bronson Kessinger dunk answered an Iowa State score with Van Scyoc converted a free throw with 8.1 seconds left as Iowa State took a narrow 41-40 lead into the locker room. Laquarious Paige finished the first half as the Sycamores' leading scorer with a career-high 15 points in the first 20 minutes of action.
Indiana State returns to action against Stanford on Friday in the Advocare Invitational. The game will tip-off from the HP Fieldhouse at 1:00 p.m. (ET) and will be televised world-wide on ESPN3.
