TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State used a pair of lengthy runs in each half as well as a consistent defensive effort to down visiting Illinois State in impressive fashion by the score of 84-54 in front of 5,148 fans inside Hulman Center. 

The Sycamores improved to 10-10, 5-3 MVC while Illinois State fell to 10-10, 4-4 MVC. Indiana State eighth-head coach Greg Lansing captured his school record 70th Missouri Valley Conference victory as part of the win which snapped a three-game skid against the Redbirds. 

ISU led by as many as 40 points late in the game coming close to breaking the school record for largest Missouri Valley Conference victory in program history. That mark still stands as a 78-42 win (36 points) against Evansville on February 21, 2001. This was the largest margin of victory in a MVC game for the Sycamores since a 72-42 over the Purple Aces on January 23, 2008. This victory over the Redbirds marked the 26th time that they Sycamores have won by a Missouri Valley Conference game by at least 20 points.

"With life in the Missouri Valley, you don't usually get one like that," coach Lansing commented. "It was really nice to play as well as we did in all aspects of the game. There were a lot of great contributions across the board. Illinois State is talented team that we have a lot of respect for. But we had a good day, they didn't have as good of a day and thus the result." 

Brenton Scott led the way for the Sycamores with 23 points which gives him 1,611 for his career. He joins Larry Bird, John Sherman Williams, Jerry Newsom and Butch Wade as the only five Sycamores to record at least 1,600 points during their playing career. He is now just 61 points behind Wade for fourth on the ISU all-time scoring list. He added five 3-pointers in the game to give him 251 for his career now only 32 behind Michael Menser for the school record. Jordan Barnes chipped in 14 points and he added four 3-pointers in the game. Barnes now has 77 on the season which is only 15 behind Menser's school record of 92 which came during his senior season of 2000-01.







Other notable contributions included 15 points by Qiydar Davis who tallied 15 points and Tyreke Key added 13 points and a team-best eight rebounds. ISU controlled the glass by a 43-35 margin, including 15 offensive rebounds. Indiana State connected on 12 3-pointers in the game but still owned a 32-22 edge in the paint. ISU only committed seven turnovers while forced 16 Redbird miscues and posted 22 points off Illinois State mistakes. Indiana State held a 16-0 edge in fast break points.

Indiana State hit 29-of-65 shots from the field (44.6 percent) while limiting Illinois State to just 36.0 percent shooting. Both teams were an identical 14-of-21 from the free throw line.

There were two key stretches in the game that led to the Sycamore victory. Illinois State led 4-0 early and the Sycamores did not find the bottom of the net until the 15:37 mark of the first half when Brandon Murphy scored inside. Brenton Scott gave the Sycamores a lead they would not lose on the next possession when he buried a 3-pointer for the 5-4 advantage. Then he added another and after two empty trips for the Redbirds, Murphy scored down low for the 10-4 lead. Tyreke Key scored four in a row and made it a personal 7-0 run on the conventional 3-point play with 11:27 remaining which capped an impressive 17-0 spurt and staked the Sycamores to a 17-4 lead. Daouda Ndiaye scored with 10:31 remaining in the first half to stop the Sycamore run and end a five and a half minute drought to cut the ISU lead down to 17-6. 

Bronson Kessinger poured in a lay-up off the feed from Barnes with 6:40 remaining for its largest lead of the first half -- 18 points at 30-12. Murphy tallied a free throw with 55 seconds left but Milik Yarbrough had two charity tosses with 28 seconds left as the Sycamores took a 42-27 lead into the half.

The Sycamores made it look easy coming out of the halftime locker room as Davis found Scott for a corner trey just 10 seconds into the game to stretch the advantage out to 45-27. ISU would lead it 67-41 when Rickman scored four in a row on two separate possessions for the 71-41 cushion. ISU then answered a Redbird basket with a convincing 11-0 run which featured a Davis steal and highlight reel dunk  as well as a steal and dunk from Key then another from Davis. The spurt concluded with 4:07 remaining on a trey by Scott which gave ISU the eye-popping 84-44 lead. Illinois State ended the game on a 10-0 run as Indiana State took home the 84-54 victory.

Phil Fayne led the way for the Sycamores with 13 points and nine rebounds.

ISU hits the road to Southern Illinois on Wednesday, January 24 for a date with the Salukis at SIU Arena. The game which tips at 8 pm (ET) will be televised live on The Valley on ESPN3.