HONOLULU, Hawai'i -- For the first time since the 1999 season, the Indiana State Sycamores will be playing in a non-conference tournament championship game as they have reached the Championship Game of the 2018 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic by virtue of an 84-79 victory over UNLV on Sunday afternoon at the Stan Sheriff Center on the campus of the University of Hawai'i.

The Sycamores improved to 8-3 on the season and are now 4-1 all-time in the Diamond Head Classic while UNLV fell 6-5. Indiana State has now won five in a row against the Mountain West Conference -- the longest active streak in the Missouri Valley Conference. They already owned a league-best 5-3 record in the Mountain West / Missouri Valley Conference Challenge series. 

Most importantly, the Sycamores advance to the 2018 Diamond Head Classic Championship Game on Christmas Day at 9:00 p.m. (ET) against the winner of this evening's TCU and Bucknell game. That game will air live nationally on ESPN2. It is the program's first trip to a non-conference championship game since the 1999 Indiana Classic. That year, ISU earned wins in Bloomington against both North Texas and the Hoosiers en route to becoming the first ever team not named Indiana to win that tournament.

This time it was the steady hand of Jordan Barnes which willed the Sycamores past foul trouble late in the game to victory with 28 points. Each of them were bigger than the last as his 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining made it a two possession game and two big free throws late put the game virtually out of reach. He went 11-of-15 from the field and hit a pair of 3-pointers and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line. He got others involved with four assists.

Tyreke Key was big as well with 16 points as he inflicted the most damage at the free throw line by going 10-of-12. Emondre Rickman stepped up with a career-high 13 points and added two blocked shots to give him 107 for his career -- fifth-best all-time at ISU. Bronson Kessinger helped push the Sycamore advantage in the first half with 11 points before fouling out. Christian Williams led the way on the boards for the third consecutive game with seven boards. 

ISU hit 29-of-57 shots from the field (50.9 percent) and were 5-of-12 from distance. The Sycamores tied a season best with a 77.8 percent mark at the free throw line, hitting 21-of-27 and were 15-of-19 in the second half.






Despite the size advantage for the Runnin' Rebels, the Sycamores held a 44-32 edge in the paint and scored 13 points off of UNLV turnovers.

UNLV's conventional 3-point play with 6:28 left cut the Sycamore lead down to just three points but Rickman answered inside and then Key hit a pair of charity tosses before a steal and Barnes lay-up completed a 6-0 run and ISU found itself ahead 68-59 as the game neared the five minute mark. The Rebels hit a pair of free throws and used the press but Barnes broke it and his jumper in the lane as the clock ticked below five minutes put ISU back ahead 70-61.

The Runnin' Rebels answered with five in a row to get within four points with just over three minutes remaining before a driving lay-up from Barnes with 2:59 to go reestablished a 74-67 advantage. UNLV cut the Sycamore lead down to one points on two occasions in the final two minutes. The first was with 1:55 to go but Barnes answered with a jumper in the paint for a 78-75 lead. Then again Barnes turned the Rebels back with a clutch 3-pointer with 45 seconds to go which gave ISU an 81-77 lead.

Clyburn scored inside with 24 seconds left before Barnes was fouled with 11 ticks left. He hit both and the Sycamore defense held plus Key tacked on a free throw at the end for the thrilling 84-79 victory.

Leading by seven points at the half, the Sycamores continued to pound the ball inside as Emondre Rickman scored Indiana State's first five points while UNLV drained a pair of 3-pointers to get within three points. With 17:25 on the clock, Barnes drove the baseline and laid the ball in high off the glass as ISU led it by seven. Then Allante Holston got into the action in the paint with just over 16 minutes remaining with another lay-up as the advantage swelled to 44-35.

A Kris Clyburn bucket cut the ISU lead down to just seven, but Holston scored again inside and then Tyreke Key buried a left wing trifecta with 14:26 remaining which pushed the Sycamore cushion out to 49-37 and forced the Runnin' Rebels to call a timeout. UNLV would score eight of the next 10 points as Kessinger went into double figures scoring with a driving lay-up at the 12:39 mark but the Rebels had whittled the Sycamore lead down to just 51-45.

UNLV would get the Sycamore cushion down to five points, but Barnes scored his 15th point in the game with another jumper in the paint as the clock went under the 10 minute mark and then with 9:05 remaining a blocked shot by Williams and long rebound from Key netted two free throws and ISU led 56-47. Barnes then found Williams on the fast break for a dunk with 8:39 remaining to stretch the lead out to 58-47.

The game continued with UNLV punching back to score the next five points and cutting the ISU lead down to 58-52 with exactly eight minutes to go. Rickman used a spin pivot in the lane to score his 11th point as the clock ticked towards the seven minute mark and put the Sycamores ahead by eight. UNLV then scored the next four points before Williams was fouled going to the rim with 6:42 remaining. He connected on both as ISU led it 62-56.
 
The Sycamores raced out to a quick 5-0 lead as Emondre Rickman finished in the paint and then Christian Williams buried a deep trey on Indiana State's first two possessions. After UNLV's Noah Robotham buried a 3-pointer, the Sycamores promptly went on a 7-0 run as the Sycamores inflicted damage inside beginning with Rickman and then five in a row by Bronson Kessinger as his lay-up in the paint with 14:12 on the clock pushed the Sycamore lead out to 12-3.

Tyreke Key got into the 3-point game to push the ISU lead out to 10 points while Christian Williams free throw at the 10:42 mark pushed the ISU cushion up to 16-5. UNLV climbed back into the contest by scoring 16 of the game's next 19 points until Barnes drained a high arching shot in the paint to restore order and a five-point lead at the 3:36 mark. UNLV's Bryce Hamilton got the Runnin' Rebels within a pair, but Barnes answered with a trey of his own in transition for the 31-26 cushion with just over two minutes to go.

Barnes scored the final four points of the half as he connected on a jumper in the lane with 1:12 to go and then his two free throws with 37 seconds to go gave ISU a 35-28 lead at the half. Barnes led ISU with 11 points after the opening 20 minutes while Kessinger added nine. The Sycamore defense limited UNLV to just 31.3 percent shooting (10-of-32) in the first half.

UNLV was led by 22 points of the bench by Amauri Hardy while Joel Ntambwe added 21 points and 15 boards.

The Sycamores' final game of the Diamond Head Classic is set for Christmas Day, December 25 at 9:00 p.m. (ET) live on ESPN2. ISU will face the winner of tonight's Bucknell and TCU contest.