TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State men's basketball moved to 2-0 in the Missouri Valley and 7-4 overall behind Samage Teel's season-high 26 points in a victory in front of the Hulman Center crowd, 84-74 against Murray State.
 
The game started beautifully, with a steal on the defensive end after the tip, ending with a cut through the paint and layup by K'mani Doughty off the dish by Markus Harding. The next three minutes saw five steals (six total turnovers) between both teams, leading to a 6-4 MSU lead.
 
The next five points out of the media for Indiana State was by Samage Teel. He drove the lane and finished with a tough left-handed layup followed by a smooth stepback triple from the left wing.
 
The Racers went on an 8-0 run in 70 seconds with all eight coming from their MVC Preseason All-Conference guard, JaCobi Wood, with two triples and a reverse layup. Murray State held a 16-11 advantage with 11:27 remaining in the game.
 
Indiana State stormed all the way back to go up five points, 22-17 with 9:09 to play. Harding made a reverse, second chance layup, followed up with a three-pointer by Camp Wagner. Harding then made a triple from the left wing, and Josiah Legree drained one of his own on the very next possession to force a quick 30 second timeout by the Racers. A right-corner three by Wagner, a Murray State dunk, and another Harding layup took the game into the under-eight media timeout with Indiana State in the lead 27-19 with 7:15 to play.
 
Another Sycamore unanswered run grew the lead closing in on halftime. Jaden Daughtry made layups on back-to-back possessions. Teel made the next five points on a stepback jumper from the left elbow and a pullup three-pointer.
 
The half could not have ended more predictably, as Teel made his third-straight three-pointer, this one from the right side, with just over 10 seconds to play. Indiana State took a 15-point, 41-26 advantage into the break. The Sycamores shot 50% from deep (7-for-14) in the half (51.6% from the field) versus the Racers capitalizing on 10-of-29 shot attempts (34.5%).
 
Indiana State jumped out to a 19-point lead just over three minutes into the half, making its first three baskets. Bruno Alocen got the scoring started with a three-pointer off the top of the key. Teel stayed hot went on another mini solo run, scoring five unanswered with a midrange jumper and draining his fourth-straight trey in the game.
 
The Sycamores through the under-12 media timeout made seven-of-10 throughout the second half. Doughty made a layup with 14:30 to play in the game, and Teel gave the Sycamores its first 20-point lead of the game on a driving layup with just about 14 minutes to play in the game to lead 55-34.
 
Murray State outscored the Sycamores in the next five minutes, but only by four points, 13-9. Indiana State still held control of the game, leading 64-47 with 9:17 left in the contest.
 
Murray State applied pressure to the Sycamore offense with a press midway through the half. The Racers used that to slowly close the deficit down to 10 points with a 7-0 run but outscored the Sycamores 22-11 from 11:53 to 6:03 (5 minutes 25 seconds). Indiana State led 68-58 with 6:50 remaining.
 
Murray State continued to race back into the game, trialing by only six, 71-65, with five minutes to play. LeGree scored four points off two free throws and a layup, with the layup putting Indiana State up eight points, 73-65.
 
Two free throws by Daughtry at the 4:30 mark were the last points scored before the under-four media timeout, then Teel broke the mini combined scoring drought from both teams with a driving layup to put Indiana State back to a double-digit, 77-66 lead with just under 2:30 remaining.
 
Back-to-back top of the key threes by Murray State's Terence Harcum brought the Racers down to its closest lead since the four-minute marker in the first half, only down 78-74 with 1:37 on the clock. A Jayan Walker jumper in the paint as the shot clock expired with a minute to play put the game back to a two possession game, 80-74.
 
Two Sycamore freshmen closed out the last 45 seconds going 4-for-4 from the free throw line. LeGree made a pair with 43 seconds left, followed by Walker with just about 30 second left put the Sycamores up 10, and the Trees held on to the 84-74 lead to secure the double-digit victory.
 
Samage Teel led four Sycamores with double figures scoring 26 points on 10-for-13 shooting and 4-for-7 from deep. Markus Harding recorded 12 points, alongside fellow big man Jaden Daughtry. Harding made 5-of-9 and Daughtry made 4-of-7; Daughtry pulled down a game-high seven rebounds. Josiah LeGree scored 11 points with a team-high three assists.
 
News & Notes

• Indiana Stated moved to 2-0 in MVC play and 7-4 overall. The Sycamores have won four-straight.
• Indiana State has recorded five games in a row with at least 80 points.
• The Sycamores shot 57.1% from the field, the third-highest percentage of the season. The Trees shot 45.0% from deep, the second-best on the year.
• Indiana State recorded a season-low nine assists, the first time not reaching at least 13 assists in a game.
• Samage Teel was hot this game, at one point being 9-for-10 from the field. He missed his first three-pointer but made his next four. His 10 total field goals ties his career high, recorded on January 21, 2024 versus Fayetteville St. With another 20-plus point performance, he has secured three-straight with at least that many and seven games of 11 total. Teel is also the only Sycamore to have started all 11 games this season.
• The Sycamore defense held the Racers to the second-lowest field goal percentage of the year (41.4%) and the lowest three-point percentage (26.1%).

 
Postgame Press Conference Presented by Team Green Law




Up Next
Indiana State turns around quickly for a home matchup on Saturday afternoon against the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy. Tip off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on Sycamore Basketball, visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from the both the App Store and the Google Play Store.