TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State used a tremendous start as part of a well executed first half of basketball to down Bradley, 81-71 and earn the Sycamores their first Missouri Valley Conference victory of the season in wire-to-wire fashion in front of 3,969 fans inside Hulman Center. 

Indiana State broke a five-game losing skid to improve to 7-11, 1-5 MVC while Bradley fell to 8-11, 3-3 MVC. The Sycamores have won eight in a row over the Braves -- the program's longest current stretch of success against a league member at home. ISU had also earned six victories in their last seven games against the Braves.

For the first time since the Butler home victory, the Sycamores placed two scorers over 20 points as Matt Van Scyoc led the way with a career-high tying 23 points as he also tied a career high with six 3-pointers made while freshman Jordan Barnes continued his impressive freshman campaign with a career-best 20 points as he connected on five 3-pointers against the Braves. Also in double figures scoring was 12 points from sophomore Donovan Franklin as well as 10 more from Laquarious Paige, who scored the first six points of the game.

Indiana State blistered the net to a 46.7 percent clip in the first half, and hit 11 first half 3-pointers. It was the second-most 3-pointers hit by the Trees in a game this season as they finished with 14, hitting them at a 43.8 percent clip. The Sycamore defense limited Bradley to 8-of-24 shooting in the opening stanza (33.3 percent), but they finished with a 39.6 percent mark. The Sycamores withstood a late second half threat from the Braves as they scored 49 points after halftime, hitting seven 3-pointers.

The Sycamores grabbed their first Missouri Valley Conference victory of the season after dropping each of their first five. Indiana State now has 61 MVC victories under the direction of head coach Greg Lansing, which is third-best among the current membership.

One more Sycamore of note was senior Everett Clemons, who continues to flirt with a triple-double. He finished the game with nine points, led the way with eight rebounds and added seven assists in the victory. Bradley held a slight 36-34 edge in rebounding but the Sycamores led 13-10 in second chance points as well as 7-0 in fast break points.

Paige got the Sycamores off to solid start with back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a 9-0 run to open the game. Van Sycoc hit a trey at the 16:13 mark to give ISU a 9-0 advantage. Bradley's first basket came with 15:37 remaining in the first half on a lay-up by Koch Bar to trim the ISU advantage down to 9-2. Van Scyoc scored on a lay-up off the feed from Paige to answer and restore the 11-2 advantage. Barnes connected on a consecutive 3-pointers around the 10 minute mark to stretch the Sycamore lead out to 24-7. After Bradley ended the run, Barnes countered with another 3-pointer at the 8:31 mark for the 27-10 lead.

A 3-pointer from Van Sycoc with 6:26 on the clock stretched the Sycamore lead out to 33-12. It would be the biggest lead of opening half except for another Barnes 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer for the 44-22 lead after 20 minutes of play. Van Sycoc tallied 14 points while Barnes had 12 in the first half.

Brandon Murphy scored first in the second half on a lay-up off the assist from Paige for a 46-22 edge. Bradley tried to claw back into the game early in the second half when Nate Kennell hit a pair of free throws to get within 57-41 with 12:05 remaining. But Barnes connected on a 3-pointer to stop the Bradley run and Clemons added a pair of free throws with 9:45 remaining for the 62-41 lead. 

A pair of Paige free throws with 7:59 on the clock staked the Sycamores to a 64-48 lead, but Bradley scored eight in a row, including a 3-pointer from Darrell Brown with just over seven minutes remaining as the Braves cut the Sycamore lead in half in less than one minute of play. After a Sycamore timeout, Van Scyoc buried a 3-pointer off the feed from Barnes with 5:26 on the clock for the 67-56 lead. The Sycamore lead would never fall below double digits the rest of the way as Indiana State hit their free throws down the stretch for the 81-71 victory.

Darrell Brown led the way for Bradley with 20 points.

Indiana State concludes its current two-game home stand with a home contest against Missouri State on Wednesday, January 18 inside Hulman Center. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. (ET) after the same two teams battled to overtime earlier this season on New Year's Eve.