TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Julian Larry shot lights out Thursday night and led the Sycamores with a career-high 21 points as Indiana State defeated Evansville 91-63 at the Hulman Center to remain perfect in Missouri Valley Conference play.
 
The Sycamores (10-4, 3-0 MVC) opened the game on a 13-0 run, shooting 5-of-5 from the field and forcing three Evansville turnovers during that span. ISU did not allow an Evansville bucket until 16:37 in the first half.
 
Larry hit back-to-back layups to push ISU's lead to 20-4 at 14:14, and the lead hit 16 points again with a Courvoisier McCauley layup at 9:45. The Aces cut their deficit down to 10 points at 28-18 with 4:19 left in the first half, but Cooper Neese later took advantage of an Evansville technical foul and knocked down a pair of free throws to get in double digits on the scoresheet and make it 32-20 at 1:06.
 
Zach Hobbs nailed a triple in the closing seconds of the opening frame to send the Sycamores into the halftime break with a 39-22 lead.
 
Indiana State was a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line in the first half and held Evansville to zero percent (0-for-3) from three in the frame.
 
McCauley hit back-to-back threes early in the second half to extend the lead to 47-24, and Neese stayed perfect at the free throw line with an and-1 at 15:37. Larry got up for a slam dunk just seconds later to surpass his previous career-high and later added to that career-high with a pair of treys, putting the Sycamores up 65-31at 12:18.
 
Evansville went on a 7-0 run to cut its deficit down to 76-51 at 4:39, but after that Masen Miller hit a triple before assisting a Kailex Stephens layup to make it 82-51 at 3:38. Miller would later close out the scoring for Indiana State in the game with his second trey of the night at 1:22.
 
Inside the Numbers

• The Sycamores outshot the Aces 48.3 percent to 38.1 percent in the game and knocked down 13 3-pointers compared to Evansville's three.
• ISU went 20-for-22 (90.9 percent) from the free throw line while the Aces were 12-for-20 from the line.
• The Aces won the battle on the boards, outrebounding the Sycamores 43-32 including 16 offensive boards.
• ISU committed just seven turnovers while dishing out 19 assists. The Sycamores forced 16 Evansville turnovers and scored 26 points off those miscues.

News & Notes

• The Sycamores are 3-0 in Valley play for the first time since 2014-15 when they started off 5-0 in league action.
• Thursday night is the first time Indiana State has beat a Valley team by 25 or more points since beating Loyola by 29 points Feb. 5, 2020.
• Junior guard Julian Larry made his first start of the season and 49th career start as a Sycamore Thursday. He shot a perfect 100 percent across the board and assisted or scored each of ISU's first four baskets in the game. Larry finished his night with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting with three triples, and he dished out four assists with two steals and no turnovers.
• Cooper Neese put up 13 points with a perfect 6-of-6 mark from the charity stripe. He also made it four straight games with a 3-pointer alongside two assists and a steal.
• Courvoisier McCauley has connected for at least one 3-pointer in all 14 games this season, and with three triples tonight, he has made three or more in eight games this year. He finished his night with 13 points for his seventh consecutive game in double figures and pulled down six rebounds.
• Jayson Kent was the fourth Sycamore in double digits with 10 points off two triples and a 4-of-4 mark from the free throw line.
• Trenton Gibson also pulled down six boards with seven points and a steal.
• All 13 active Indiana State players saw the floor in the game, and 12 of those 13 Sycamores scored. The only player who did not score was Rob Martin, and he had three assists in 7:47 of action.

Up Next
The Sycamores head out on the road to ring in the New Year as they face Valparaiso Sunday, Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. ET.
 
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