TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – It was a night of celebration for Indiana State as they recorded the historic 1,500^th milestone victory in the history of the program, Tyreke Key enjoyed a stellar night at the free throw line to set a new individual school record and the Sycamores won for the fourth consecutive time by downing North Dakota State, 71-60 in front of 3,371 fans inside Hulman Center.
 
On the season, the Sycamores improved to 4-4 while North Dakota State fell to 5-4. As mentioned before it was the 1,500^th victory in the 125-year history of the program and became just the fifth member of the current Missouri Valley Conference membership to reach the milestone.
 
Tyreke Key paced the Sycamores with 27 points as he went 8-of-15 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and was 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Key entered the contest ranked 26^th nationally in free throw percentage and hit his first nine in the contest. He had 32 in a row dating back to his final attempt against Ball State on November 17 which is a new school record for consecutive charity tosses made. Those 32 in a row are tied for the 14^th-most in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
Cameron Bacote posted 11 points as he was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, including a 3-pointer while Jordan Barnes was steady with 11 points. Both Jordan Barnes and Key recorded eight rebounds to pace the team as ISU held a 38-36 advantage on the boards. Freshman Tre Williams recorded eight points doing most of his damage in the second half while Bronson Kessinger chipped in eight of his own off the bench.
 
ISU struggled to find the bottom of the net in the opening half hitting just 33.3 percent of their shots despite a 14-point halftime lead, but were 17-of-29 after the break for a blazing 58.6 percent mark. For the game the Sycamores hit 27-of-59 from the field (45.8 percent). Defensively, the Sycamores limited the Bison to just 24.1 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes as they missed each of their first 11 attempts from long range and finished the game by hitting 20-of-56 from the field (35.7 percent), but hit 10 3-pointers in the contest.
 
Indiana State scored the game's first nine points as Tre Williams opened the scoring with a lay-up at the 17:23 mark and Key capped it with a trifecta with 14:57 on the clock. Rocky Kreuser who missed each of North Dakota State's last two games with a knee injury hit a pair of free throws at the 14:45 mark for the first Bison points of the contest and they didn't score their first bucket until the 9:17 mark but ISU already owned a 15-4 advantage.
 
North Dakota State would not score again until their was 4:39 on the clock but ISU owned a 20-6 lead. A Cobie Barnes free throw gave the Sycamores a 21-6 lead before the Bison scored eight in a row until Bacote's jumper with 2:34 to go restored a 23-14 lead. Key hit a pair of free throws with five seconds to go which gave the Sycamores a 31-19 lead at the break.
 
The Bison would score the first 12 points of the second half, capped by a Tyson Ward lay-up with 16:33 remaining which knotted the game up at 33. Barnes answered with a floater in the paint to push the Sycamores ahead but Kreuser countered with a triple at the 15:55 mark to stake the Bison to a one-point lead. Cooper Neese countered with a 3-pointer of his to give the Sycamores a 38-36 lead and then Key added another of his own and Kessinger scored inside with 14:15 to go for a 43-36 cushion.
 
Tyree Eady knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 47-42 but ISU rattled off the next seven points, including a Jordan Barnes steal and fast break lay-up with 8:45 remaining and ISU took control with a 54-42 lead.
 
Key and Bacote would score inside to make it 11 in a row for the home team and with 6:41 on the clock the Sycamores led 58-42. The Bison fought back with five in a row before Kessinger converted a lay-up off the feed from Neese and the Sycamores owned a 60-47 advantage.
 
North Dakota State was led by 18 points from Vinnie Shahid while Kreiser tallied 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the double-double.
 
The Sycamores return to action on Saturday, December 7 when they travel to Wright State for a 2:00 p.m. (ET) tip-off in Dayton. The game will air live nationally on ESPN+.