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Indiana State University Athletics

Cooper Neese
58
Evansville Evans 5-27,1-19 MVC
97
Winner Indiana St. INS 21-11,13-7 MVC
Evansville Evans
5-27,1-19 MVC
58
Final
97
Indiana St. INS
21-11,13-7 MVC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Evansville Evans 28 30 58
Indiana St. INS 46 51 97

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

Sycamores set MVC Tournament record, roll past Evansville to advance to quarterfinals

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The fifth-seeded Indiana State Sycamores made history Thursday afternoon as they recorded the largest margin of victory ever in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 97-58 win over No. 12 Evansville in the first round of Arch Madness inside the Enterprise Center.
 
With the win, the Sycamores earned a rematch with No. 4 Belmont, who received a first-round bye in the tournament. Indiana State will face the Bruins in the quarterfinals Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
 
Freshman Robbie Avila paced all scorers in the game with 21 points on a 7-of-9 shooting clip and a 6-of-6 mark at the free throw line. Cooper Neese added 19 points, also shooting 7-of-9 from the field including 5-of-6 from three, alongside a game-high eight boards in the game. This duo combined for 30 of Indiana State's 46 first-half points.
 
Xavier Bledson posted 14 points off the bench with 12 of those points coming in the second half. Indiana State dished out a program second-best 29 assists on 38 baskets and was led by Trenton Gibson with eight assists.
 
Indiana State quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game and never looked back. The Sycamores never allowed Evansville to lead in the game, and by 13:42 in the opening frame, had pushed their lead to 10 on Cameron Henry's second triple of the game that made it 17-7. That lead hit 18 points at 27-9 on back-to-back Neese triples with 10:34 to go in the first half. Avila closed out the scoring in the first half with a layup to make it 46-28, and he led all scorers with 16 points in the half.
 
The Sycamore lead reached 20 points early in the second half on another Neese trey, and Zach Hobbs later sparked a 13-0 Indiana State run that was capped by back-to-back triples from Xavier Bledson to make it 77-43 with 7:39 remaining the in the second half. Jayson Kent and Kailex Stephens checked in and made it on the scoresheet to push ISU's lead to 39 points at 89-50 with 3:16 to go. St. Louis native Rob Martin scored his fifth basket of the season in the closing minutes, and Stephens closed out the scoring on the night with another bucket in the last minute.
 
Inside the Numbers
  • The Sycamores shot a season second-best 58.5 percent from the field in the game and 100 percent (8-of-8) from the charity stripe for the first time since Feb. 23, 2022 when they shot 5-of-5 against UNI.
  • Indiana State hit 13 3-pointers in the game and improved to 10-1 when six or more players hit a 3-pointer in a game and 11-1 when making 10 or more 3-pointers as a team.
  • The Sycamores outrebounded Evansville 43-27 with their most rebounds in a game against a DI opponent since having 44 against Alabama A&M Dec. 18, 2021.
  • ISU's 43 bench points are the most in a game against a DI opponent this season. Along with Xavier Bledson's 14 points off the bench, Cade McKnight added 10 points.
News & Notes
  • Thursday's win marks head coach Josh Schertz's first MVC Tournament win and improves ISU's tournament record to 28-39 all-time. It also gives ISU 21 wins for the first time since 2014.
  • This 39-point win was the widest victory margin by a team in MVC Tournament history, eclipsing the previous mark of 30 twice by: Wichita State, 107, Southern Illinois 77 in 1984; and Drake 79, Illinois State 49 in 2008 (Championship Game).
  • This marked the first time since 2019 that the No. 5 seed won its first game in the MVC Tournament. Indiana State was the first-ever five seed to win the tournament in 2001.
  • ISU's 29 assists mark an all-time program second-best behind the program record of 34 set in 1983 against West Texas State. It's also the most by a team in the MVC Tournament since Illinois State dished out 31 against Southern Illinois Feb. 28, 1998.
  • ISU's 97 points are the second-most in a regulation MVC Tournament game within the 33 years the tournament has been held in St. Louis, behind Creighton's 99 points against Evansville March 3, 2012.
  • With a tied career-high five triples in the game, Cooper Neese moves into fourth place on ISU's all-time list of career 3-pointers with 217. He tied a season-high 19 points in his fourth-straight double-figure scoring game. Neese has scored in double figures in eight of his last 11 games and has hit two or more treys in seven of those 11 games.
  • Robbie Avila's game-high 21 points put him one point shy of tying Jake Odum for the fifth-most points by a freshman in ISU's program history.
  • ISU's leading scorer and MVC Newcomer of the Year Courvoisier McCauley was held to zero points (0-of-6 FG, 0-of-5 3FG) for the first time this season.
Up Next
The No. 5 Sycamores will face No. 4 Belmont in the MVC Tournament Quarterfinals Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
 
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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