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Indiana State University Athletics

Henry
74
Winner Indiana St. INS 9-1,2-0 MVC
71
Southern Ill. SIU 5-4,1-1 MVC
Winner
Indiana St. INS
9-1,2-0 MVC
74
Final
71
Southern Ill. SIU
5-4,1-1 MVC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Indiana St. INS 39 35 74
Southern Ill. SIU 28 43 71

Game Recap: Basketball | | Codie Kunstmann | GoSycamores.com

Sycamores Survive Late Saluki Push to Win Fifth Straight

CARBONDALE, Ill. –  The Indiana State Sycamores finished off a Valley thriller in front of a rowdy crowd at Banterra Center Wednesday night, outlasting the Southern Illinois Salukis for a 74-71 road win. The Sycamores (9-1, 2-0 MVC) led by 14 in the first half and wound up down by two late in the second half, but held off the late push from the Salukis (5-4, 1-1 MVC) to take their fifth straight win.
 
Cameron Henry was two assists shy of a triple-double, tying his career-high of eight assists alongside 15 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. He also swiped three passes in the game. Courvoisier McCauley led the Sycamores with 16 points in the game, and Robbie Avila and Jayson Kent each shot over 66 percent from the field for 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Henry opened the game with back-to-back layups as part of a 6-0 run for the Sycamores who built up to an early 11-2 lead and forced SIU to play its way out of a hole the entire half.
 
In the last minute of the opening frame, Jayson Kent pulled down the offensive board and drew a shooting foul on the put back and knocked down both free throws to give the Sycamores their largest lead of the game at 39-25 with 57 seconds on the clock. The Salukis would answer with a buzzer-beating triple, and ISU led 36-28 at the break.
 
Henry shot 6-of-7 from the field and led all scorers with 13 points in the first half, and the Sycamores turned 11 SIU turnovers into 14 points in the frame.
 
SIU opened the second half with five straight points and later went on a 17-3 run spanning over five minutes to take its first lead of the game at 58-56 with 8:54 to play. In that span, ISU shot 1-of-9 from the field with a lone triple from McCauley.
 
That lead did not last long as Robbie Avila laid in a basket and then set McCauley up for another triple at 6:22 that gave ISU a 61-58 lead. The Sycamores went on a 12-3 run in the last five minutes to get their lead back up to an eight-point cushion at 72-65 with 25 seconds remaining, which was enough to hold on for the win after two Saluki triples in the last nine seconds.
 
Inside the Numbers
  • The Sycamores shot 29-of-63 from the field (46.0 percent) while SIU shot 29-of-60 (48.3 percent), but the Salukis made 10 3-pointers compared to ISU's five.
  • ISU didn't allow the Salukis many trips to the line as SIU shot just 3-of-6 from the charity stripe while the Sycamores were 11-of-15 from the line.
  • The Sycamores narrowly outrebounded the Salukis 35-32, snagging four more offensive boards and one more defensive board.
  • ISU forced 15 Saluki turnovers in the game with 11 of those coming in the first half. The Sycamores were able to take advantage of 23 points of those turnovers while committing just nine turnovers of their own.
  • The Sycamores recorded nine steals in the game and dished out 17 assists.
  • Going into Wednesday's game, the Salukis were allowing just 61.6 points per game and allowed ISU to score 12.4 points above that mark, the second-most points against SIU this season behind 85 points from Saint Louis.
News & Notes
  • ISU improves to 9-1 this season for the team's best start since the legendary 1978-79 season when the Sycamores went 29-0 in the regular season and finished the year 33-1.
  • The Sycamores are off to a 2-0 start in Missouri Valley Conference play for the first time since 2014-15.
  • Southern Illinois never led by more than two points in the game, and Indiana State remains the only team in the Valley to never trail by double digits this season. The Sycamores trailed by a season-high eight points against Kansas City which would end up being ISU's lone loss so far this season.
  • The Sycamores have led at the half every game this season, including by 11 points tonight.
  • ISU is 2-0 in true road games so far this season and tonight's win is the first time ISU won it's Valley road opener since 2014-15.
  • Wednesday was ISU's 12th-ever win against SIU in Carbondale and first since Feb. 26, 2020. The Sycamores are now 52-90 all-time against SIU and 12-53 in Carbondale.
Up Next
The Sycamores continue on the road with a trip to Southern Indiana Sunday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. ET in Evansville.
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on the Sycamore Men's Basketball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
 
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