EDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Indiana State Sycamores extended their win streak to five games Saturday afternoon with a statement win on the road at Northern Iowa, defeating the Panthers 80-62 for their fourth straight double-digit win.
 
Courvoisier McCauley paced all scorers in the game with 21 points including a game-high five 3-pointers. Julian Larry posted his third double-figure scoring outing in four games with 17 points alongside four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
 
Iowa native Cade McKnight rounded out the Sycamores in double figures with 11 points and a tied team-high seven rebounds. He shot a perfect 3-of-3 from the field with a triple and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
 
The Sycamores (18-9, 11-5 MVC). gave up the first basket of the day but held control of the game from start to finish. The first 10 minutes saw four ties and three lead changes, but UNI (12-14, 8-8 MVC) never led by more than two points and after 12:57 in the first half, never led again in the game.
 
It took nearly two minutes for either team to get on the board, and things were even at 4-4 with 15:55 to go in the opening frame until a pair of free throws and a layup from Cameron Henry put the Sycamores up 8-4 at 15:26. Back-to-back Sycamore threes pushed ISU's lead to 20-14 with 9:47 left in the half, and Jayson Kent put ISU up by 10 with a three before Larry scooped up a loose ball and took it all the way in for a slam dunk to make it 26-16 at 6:29.
 
The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run to cut their deficit to four points and force a Sycamore timeout with 3:39 left in the half, but ISU came out of that timeout with two straight threes to go back up by 10 at 35-25 with 2:49 to go. Xavier Bledson notched his team-high fourth assist in the game when he fed McCauley for a three to close out the first half and put ISU up by 15 at 44-29 going into the break.
 
Indiana State went off on a 13-0 run with three triples early in the second half to reach its largest lead of the game, 28 points at 59-31 with 16:20 to go. Henry added a slam dunk of his own to make it 67-43 at 7:26. UNI would come within 16 points in the final minute, but that's as close as the Panthers would get as Kailex Stephens closed out the scoring in the game with a pair of free throws.
 
Inside the Numbers

• The Sycamores were 23-of-24 from the charity stripe in the game, and they hit a perfect 21 out of their first 21 before missing one in the final minute of play. Those 23 free throws are the most by the Sycamores in a single game since hitting 24 against Loyola Chicago Jan. 10, 2021. The Panthers were just 10-of-11 from the line.
• Indiana State outshot UNI from the field 46.2 percent to 40.4 percent with nine triples compared to UNI's six.
• The Sycamores pulled down 35 boards compared to UNI's 29 and improved to 14-1 when outrebounding their opponent. 

News & Notes

• Courvoisier McCauley's 21 points marks his eighth 20+-point outing of the season. He is one of just seven Valley players with eight or more 20+-point games this year.
• Cameron Henry and Julian Larry are inching closer to 100 assists on the year. With Henry's two assists in today's game, he is just two away from 100 while Larry is 10 away after his three assists in today's game.
• Today's 18-point win marks Indiana State's largest margin of victory at the McLeod Center and just ISU's seventh win ever inside this building. ISU's previous largest margin of victory inside the McLeod Center was 11 on Feb. 3, 2018.
• Today's win also marks ISU's third season series sweep of the year.
• With four games remaining in the regular season, the Sycamores have 18 overall wins for the second time in nine seasons and six road wins for the first time since 2013-14.
• With their nine 3-pointers in the game, the Sycamores are 11 triples away from tying the program record of 270 treys in a season for the second year in a row.
• The Sycamores remain one game out of first place in the Valley standings.

Up Next
Indiana State continues on the road next week with a trip to the Windy City. The Sycamores will face UIC Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+ in the first of their last two road games of the season.
 
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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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