TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – It was a tale of two halves Wednesday night as the Valley leader Indiana State welcomed the Valley's second-ranked team Southern Illinois to Hulman Center for Blackout Cancer Night in front of the largest home crowd of the season. The Sycamores led by double digits at halftime but were outscored by 18 in the second half as they suffered their first Valley loss of the season, 69-61.
 
Indiana State (13-5, 6-1 MVC) led Southern Illinois (13-5, 5-2 MVC) by 15 points midway through the first half and still held a double-digit lead after the first 20 minutes, going into halftime up by 10. The Salukis used an 11-3 run early in the second half to cut their deficit to three before taking the lead in the middle of a 10-0 run later in the half. The Sycamores would tie things up on three occasions in the last 6:45 but could never quite recover the lead.
 
Four Sycamores scored in double figures, led by Courvoisier McCauley with 13 points. McCauley, Julian Larry, and Robbie Avila each extended their double-digit scoring streaks while Trenton Gibson put up double figures for the first time since Nov. 27.
 
After giving up the first basket, Indiana State responded with an 11-0 run spanning 3:46 to take an 11-2 lead at 15:28 in the first half. The Sycamores shot 5-of-6 from the field during that run, including a triple from Cameron Henry that sparked the run. SIU shot 0-of-4 with a shotclock violation in that span.
 
Gibson later checked into the game with a pair of quick triples, and then McCauley hit his first trey of the day to push ISU's lead to a game-high 15 points at 27-12 with 9:01 to go in the first half. The Salukis would come back within single digits late in the half, but the Sycamores held onto a 36-26 lead at halftime.
 
Early in the second half, Larry swiped his third ball of the day which led to a McCauley stepback triple that made it 40-29 at 18:53, but then SIU went on its 11-3 run, holding the Sycamores to one bucket in over four minutes. During that run, Avila was called for a shooting foul that caused a technical foul on head coach Josh Schertz, and SIU's Marcus Domask would hit all four free throws.
 
Shortly after, the Salukis went off on a 10-0 run to take a 50-45 lead at 8:14. Avila nailed a triple to even things up at 52-52 with 6:45 to go, and Cooper Neese completed the and-1 to tie things back up at 57-57 at 3:47. Avila then came up with a pair of huge stops for the Sycamores with a block and a defensive rebound.
 
The Salukis later hit 6-of-6 from the charity stripe as part of a 10-2 run for a 67-59 lead with 28 seconds on the clock, and Larry would get a layup back in the final 20 seconds but SIU closed it out with another pair of free throws.
 
Inside the Numbers

• Free throws were the difference maker as the Sycamores outshot the Salukis 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from the field compared to 40.8 percent (20-of-49), but were just 9-of-14 at the line compared to SIU going 24-of-31 at the line.
• The Sycamores held SIU's leading scorer Marcus Domask to just four points in the first half, and though he ended with 14 points, six of those points came from the charity stripe as he was held to 4-of-14 from the field and 0-of-5 from three.
• Indiana State hit five 3-pointers in the first half after hitting five the entire game in the last outing. The Sycamores ended with eight triples, marking the 12th time they've made eight or more in a game.
• Courvoisier McCauley extended his double-digit scoring streak to 10 games and he has hit double figures in all but two games this season. He has also hit three triples in five straight games and has hit three or more in 11 games this season.
• Robbie Avila finished his night with 12 points alongside a team-high six boards and two steals. He has scored in double digits in three straight games.
• Julian Larry made it five straight games in double figures on the scoresheet, finishing with 10 points beside three assists and three steals.
• Trenton Gibson hit double figures for the first time since Nov. 27 against Trinity Christian with 10 points including two triples.
• Cameron Henry dished out six assists with eight points, a block, and a steal.

News & Notes

• Wednesday's game was the first of two Blackout Cancer games for ISU this season. The Sycamores wore special black jerseys with pink striping, and a percentage of the proceeds from the overall ticket sales will be donated toward the Rich and Robin Porter Cancer Research Center.
• Wednesday marks ISU's first Valley loss at home since Feb. 23, 2022.
• Tonight was the third time this season the Sycamores have scored 61 or less points in a game, and ISU is 0-3 in those games. Those 61 points are the least amount of points ISU has scored against a Valley team this season.
• Going into Wednesday's game, ISU was 13-1 when leading at halftime. Tonight was just the second loss when leading at the half this season. The Sycamores are 0-3 when trailing at halftime.
• The Sycamores led for most of Wednesday's game and trailed for just 8:32. They have trailed in Valley games for just 21:01 this season. When SIU went up by eight at :19 in the second half, that marked ISU's largest deficit in Valley play this season.

Up Next
The Sycamores take to the road this weekend with a trip to Missouri State for a matchup against the Bears Sunday, Jan 15. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. ET in Springfield.
 
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