TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – In front of the largest crowd at Hulman Center this season, the Indiana State Sycamores broke a program record for 3-pointers made in a single season, but it was free throws that made the difference in an 80-64 win against Illinois State Saturday afternoon.
 
The Sycamores hit a season-high 30 free throws to help themselves to their seventh straight win, the last six of those coming by double figures. Nearly 6,000 fans were packed into Hulman Center with half of them donning goggles for "Be Like Robbie Day" cheering Indiana State onto six triples in the game to surpass the program record for 3-pointers in a single season. The Sycamores have hit 273 3-pointers so far with more basketball to be played.
 
With Cameron Henry playing under 10 minutes in the game and not touching the floor in the second half, the Sycamore bench stepped up once again, this time with 33 points. Trenton Gibson led the Sycamores with 17 points in the game, and he has come off the bench with double figures in two straight games and three of his last four. Xavier Bledson added 12 points off the bench.
 
Cooper Neese and Julian Larry combined to go 13-of-13 at the free throw line and posted 16 and 10 points, respectively. Courvoisier McCauley hit half of Indiana State's threes in the game and finished with 12 points.
 
The score stayed tight early on in the game, but the Sycamores started taking advantage of their trips to the line early to begin pulling away, eventually building up to a 10-poinnt lead after seven straight free throws midway through the first half. The Sycamores (20-9, 13-5 MVC) did not allow the Redbirds (10-19, 5-13 MVC) a single lead in the game, and the Indiana State lead reached as high as 20 points in the second half.
 
After being tied at 8-all with 16:52 to go in the opening frame, Indiana State took a 13-8 lead on five straight free throws and then pushed the lead to 17-10 with a Larry steal that set Neese up for a layup at 14:57. After two straight Redbird buckets made it 17-14, both teams went cold from the floor for nearly nine minutes. Indiana State was able to hit seven free throws in that span while Illinois State hit just three, and McCauley ended the field goal drought for the Sycamores with a triple at 4:52 to make it 27-17.
 
Gibson hit the record-tying 3-pointer with 1:10 to go in the half, and Illinois State got a three back with 26 seconds left to trail by 11 at 37-26 going into halftime. Indiana State held the Redbirds to 29.6 percent from the field and 1-of-14 from three in the first half.
 
Tying the 3-pointer record was not enough for Gibson as he officially broke the record with his second three of the day at 17:46 in the second half to put the Sycamores up 44-32. Neese later swiped a pass and fed it to Bledson down low for a layup, and then Gibson drove through contact and finished off the and-one to make it 57-43 at 11:28. McCauley pushed the Sycamore lead to 19 with a three at 9:37, but Illinois State would cut its deficit to 11 points with 6:02 to play. The Sycamores responded with a 9-0 run to go up by 20 at 78-58 with 3:53 to go. Illinois State got a couple buckets back in the last two minutes to cut Indiana State's margin of victory down to 16 points.
 
Inside the Numbers

• Indiana State outshot Illinois State 43.1 percent to 40.0 percent in the game, but it was the first time the Sycamores have shot any less than 46 percent since the loss at Drake Jan. 24.
• Indiana State's six threes in today's game are the least amount and first time hitting less than eight threes in a game since the loss at Murray State Jan. 21.
• The Sycamores dished out their lowest amount of assists on this seven-game win streak with 11, the first time ISU has had less than 14 since Jan. 24 at Drake.
• After committing eight turnovers in the first half, the Sycamores cleaning things up and committed just three in the second half for a total of 11 in the game. Indiana State allowed the Redbirds to score just eight points off turnovers while the Sycamores scored 22 points off Illinois State's 13 turnovers.

News & Notes

• After tying the record last season, the Sycamores officially broke the program record for 3-pointers in a single season today. The record was 270 originally set in 2017-18 but with their six triples today, the Sycamores are currently sitting at 273 triples on the year.
• With his three triples in today's game, Courvoisier McCauley is tied for third on ISU's program list of 3-pointers made in a single season with 81. He is two 3-pointers away from taking sole possession of second on that list.
• With his team-high four assists today, Julian Larry is three assists away from hitting 100 this season. He would join teammate Cameron Henry who hit 100 assists at UIC Wednesday, and it would be the first time two Sycamores have notched 100 assists in the same season since Matt Renn and Michael Menser in 2000-01.
• The Sycamores have collected 20 wins for the first time since 2013-14 and just the eighth time overall since joining the Valley in 1976-77.
• The Sycamores also notched 13 Valley wins for the first time since 1999-20 when Indiana State won the Valley with a 14-4 league record. The only other time Indiana State has had 13 or more Valley wins was in 1978-79 when the Sycamores went 16-0 in league play and made it to the NCAA Championship game. 

Up Next
The Sycamores head to Music City next week for their first and only meeting with the Valley's top-ranked team Belmont Wednesday, Feb. 22. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, Feb. 22 at the Curb Event Center in Nashville.
 
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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