TERRE HAUTE, Ind.  – Indiana State rode a wave of early hot shooting and then maintained the success from the field throughout the game en route to an 85-64 victory over visiting Chicago State in front of 3,449 fans inside Hulman Center.
 
The Sycamores won for the seventh consecutive outing to improve to 7-4 on the season as they wrapped up non-conference play. The last seven-game winning streak occurred during the 2013-14 campaign in which Indiana State started MVC play with a perfect 5-0 record. Chicago State fell to 4-10.
 
Tyreke Key inched closer to the 1,000 career points scored milestone as he tallied 17 points on the strength of an 8-of-12 shooting effort to go with five rebounds and three steals. Key now owns 986 career points in 74 games played. With 14 more points over the next two games he will become the fourth fastest Sycamore to reach the career milestone.
 
Freshman Jake LaRavia also posted 17 points and led the team with seven rebounds as he was 5-of-7 from the field and added seven free throws in the victory. He was just one point off his career high of 18 which he recorded at the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas in late November. Tre Williams reached double figures scoring for the third consecutive game as he tallied 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Over the last two games, Williams has recorded an 11-of-12 shooting mark from the field.
 
Indiana State burned the nets at a 62.9 percent clip in the opening 20 minutes (15-of-24) and was 30-of-65 from the field (54.5 percent). Indiana State entered the contest ranked 11^th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage and was 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) from distance. Cooper Neese made it four Sycamores in double figures scoring as he added 11 points with the help of a pair of 3-pointers.
 
Tre Williams' hook shot in the paint opened the scoring for the Sycamores on the opening possession and Key's 3-pointer with 18:44 on the clock stretch the lead out to 5-0. A Jace Colley jumper trimmed the Sycamore lead down to 20-14, but ISU rattled off the game's next seven points, capped off by a Cam Bacote 3-pointer with 9:37 remaining before the break to give the Sycamores a 27-14 cushion.
 
The Sycamores held Chicago State without a paint for the final 2:52 of the opening half and ended the stanza on a 7-0 run. Key hit a long jumper and then Tre Williams scored in the paint to return the lead to double figures. Jordan Barnes then buried a long 3-pointer with 40 seconds to go to give the Sycamores a 40-25 lead heading into the half. Key and LaRavia paced the team with 11 points each in the first 20 minutes of play.
 
LaRavia scored nine seconds into the second half with a running lay-up to make it a 9-0 Sycamore run and extend the cushion out to 17 points with the 42-25 lead. On consecutive possessions as the clock ticked towards down the 14 minute mark, Barnes picked up a steal which led to a Key dunk and then his own steal allowed him to score on a lay-up in transition as the Sycamores owned a 57-35 lead.
 
Bacote's 3-pointer with 4:25 to go stretched the lead out to 79-53 which was one of two times in the contest that the Sycamores led by as many as 26 points.
 
With 1:38 remaining, freshman walk-on Keon Sellers hit 1-of-2 free throw attempts to give the Sycamores an 82-60 lead – which proved to be the first points in his young Sycamore career.
 
Isaiah Lewis and Xavier Johnson each posted 17 points to lead the Cougars in the contest.
 
Indiana State pauses for the Holidays and returns to action on Monday, December 30 when they host Southern Illinois in the MVC opener for both teams. Tip-off at Hulman Center is set for 8:00 p.m. (ET) and the game will be televised live on the MVC TV Network (Fox Sports Indiana/Midwest/Kansas City, NBC Sports Chicago and ESPN+).