TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State put together one of its best defensive showings of the season as they used 14 Valparaiso turnovers to score 22 points and held the Crusaders to just 53 points as the Sycamores put together an impressive 70-53 win inside Hulman Center on Wednesday evening.
The Sycamores improved to 11-8, 3-4 MVC while Valparaiso fell to 12-8, 5-2 MVC. The Crusaders entered the contest tied with Loyola atop the MVC standings at 5-1. ISU has now won each of its last two meetings at home against Valpo and this was all-time win No. 1,492 for the Sycamore Basketball program.
Tyreke Key was steady throughout as he led the way with 22 points and also led the team with five rebounds. ISU held a 27-26 edge on the glass and a 40-30 cushion in the paint.
The Sycamore defense allowed Valpo to hit 19-of-45 shots (42.2 percent), but they forced 14 timely turnovers and turned them into 22 Sycamore points. Indiana State improved to 91-10 under ninth-year head coach
Greg Lansing when holding teams to 63 points or less and are now 10-0 when limiting a team to 68 or less. ISU is also 20-0 when holding teams to 53 points or less under Lansing.
Cooper Neese tallied a season-best 14 points as he drained a pair of 3-pointers while
Emondre Rickman was 6-of-9 from the field and scored 12 points. Also in double figures scoring was
Bronson Kessinger as he tallied 10 points and was 5-of-8 from the field.
For the game, the Sycamores hit 26-of-51 shots (51 percent) and connected on a total of six 3-pointers. ISU 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line.
Indiana State never trailed in the contest as they scored the game's first four points before the game was tied at 8-8 at the 16:26 mark on a free throw by Markus Golder. From there, Key drained a 3-pointer to give ISU an 11-8 advantage and the Sycamores would never trail again. Valpo's Lavender hit a jumper in the paint to trim the Sycamore lead down to three points before Indiana State embarked on a 6-0 run which began with two Key charity tosses and ended on a Kessinger lay-up with 6:35 on the clock for the 21-12 lead. When Derik Smits converted a conventional 3-point play with 6:16 remaining ended a nearly six minute scoring drought for the Crusaders.
ISU then went into Rickman twice in a row to stretch the lead to double digits and then Key grabbed a steal and fast break trifecta for the 28-15 advantage with 3:39 to go to cap a 7-0 Sycamore run. Rickman would score again in the paint with 1:05 on the clock for a 32-18 lead but Lavender drained a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left as Indiana State took a 32-21 lead into the half.
Barnes hit a floater in the paint on the first possession of the second half and after Key buried a 3-pointer from the left corner with 18:50 remaining, the Sycamores found themselves up 37-23.
Cooper Neese was true from the right corner from distance at the 15:09 mark for a 43-29 advantage.
Javon Freeman scored for Valpo with 11:23 to go to cut the Sycamore lead down to 47-36 and then Neese hit a jumper in the paint to kick start a 10-0 Sycamore run as the defense forced a four minute drought. the run was capped by Kessinger's jumper at the death of the shot clock with 7:43 remaining as ISU led 60-39. The Sycamores would lead by as many as 23 points left and when Golder scored on a fast break lay-up with 18 seconds remaining, Indiana State was able to run out the clock on the 70-53 victory.
Three Crusaders hit double figures scoring led by Markus Golder and Derrik Smits with 14 points each.
Indiana State returns to action on Sunday, January 27 as they travel to Illinois State to begin a two-game MVC road swing. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 pm (ET) and can be seen live nationally on CBS Sports Network and heard locally on WIBQ 97.9 FM.
