VALPARAISO, Ind. – Indiana State men's basketball earned a victory at Valparaiso on Wednesday, 83-64, and moved to 23-5 overall and 14-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
Jayson Kent finished one point shy of tying his career high with 23 points, shooting 8-for-13 from the floor, adding in six rebounds. Xavier Bledson and Ryan Conwell each finished with 15 points and six rebounds. Bledson finished 6-for-8 shooting and tacked on three assists, while Conwell shot 5-for-11 and had two assists. Robbie Avila also had 15 points but dished out six assists in 24 minutes on the court.
 
Julian Larry scored five points with six assists. Jake Wolfe played just over 24 minutes, contributing four points, five rebounds, and four assists with no turnovers. Jaden Daughtry saw the floor for the first time in more than a month and recorded six points and three rebounds in 7:48.
 
Inside shooting helped the Sycamores to victory, scoring more than half its points inside the paint (46). ISU scored on 69.7% of attempts inside the arc (22-for-33) which is the highest since facing Valpo at home just two weeks ago (four games). Overall, ISU shot 57.1% (32-for-56) from the floor, the fourth-highest percentage of the season.
 
The Sycamores and Beacons exchanged baskets through the first 6:30 of the game, with the Sycamores holding a two-point, 12-10 lead at the 14:24 mark; Kent accounted for six points of ISU's 12. Indiana State then used a 10-0 run to stretch to a 22-12 lead with 11 minutes to play. Avila scored four points to start the run with a layup and two free throws, followed by Bledson and Larry each burying a triple.
 
Valpo responded with a quick 7-0 run to cut the deficit down to only three points just past the midpoint of the half, 22-19. Baskets continued to exchange until the Beacons tied the game at 27 apiece with 5:54 to play. Conwell ended the scoring run with a three-pointer, followed by the Sycamore defense forcing a shot-clock turnover, then Avila drained a triple of his own. Kent and Avila closed out the final 4:41 of the first half for ISU, combining for 12-of-15 points to give Indiana State the 45-37 lead at the break.
 
Both teams shot better than 50% in the first half. ISU finished 15-for-29 (51.7%) from the floor, including a 52.9% effort from three, while Valpo finished 55.6% from the floor and 50% from deep. Valparaiso entered the game shooting 40.7% as a team.
 
Valpo's Isaiah Stafford kept his team within striking distance in the game, scoring all nine points for the Beacons and outscoring ISU alone 9-6 in the first five minutes of the half. Despite his effort, ISU's Daughtry's minutes off the bench kept the momentum on the side of the Sycamores. Daughtry made his first three buckets off the bench, scoring all six points in three minutes. The freshman subbed in at 16:21 and scored the next six points for Indiana State, taking a 55-47 lead into the second media timeout at 13:39.
 
The teams alternated a pair of free throws, then a dunk by Valpo brought the score with three still in favor of the Sycamores, 59-56. The Sycamores slowly began to put away the Beacons. Starting right around the middle of the second half, Indiana State used a 10-0 run to extended its lead to 16 points with 5:44 to play. Kent recorded eight of the 10 with three layups and a pair of free throws, and Bledson scored a layup for the other basket. Wolfe made back-to-back layups for ISU, then about a minute later Larry swiped his second steal of the game leading to a Conwell finish at the rim, forcing a Beacon timeout. Bledson closed out the last 90 seconds with two layups, giving Indiana State the 83-64 victory.
 
News & Notes

• Indiana State continued its best overall and league records in the Coach Josh Schertz era.
• ISU stayed at the top of the MVC with the win. Tied with Drake for both overall and league records, the MVC tiebreaker falls to NET rankings, which the Sycamores currently rank higher. ISU stands at No. 31 and Drake at No. 44 at the time of writing.
• Two of ISU's top four shooting games have come against Valparaiso. ISU recorded its current season-best field goal percentage of 61.3% on February 7 against Valpo, and tonight shot 57.1%, which is fourth best.
• The Sycamores finished perfect from the free-throw line (10-for-10), the second time the team shot 100% from the line (13-for-13 at Northern Illinois).
• Going back 18 games (including tonight), ISU has scored 40+ points in the paint only twice – tonight with 46 and at home against Valparaiso (56). The Trees only have five games this season of 28 scoring 40+ points in the paint.
• With nine made three-pointers on the night, it marks the third-straight game with nine or fewer made triples for the first time this season. Including tonight, ISU has only eight games of 28 this season with single-digit made three-pointers.
  • The Sycamores' 23 three-point attempts ties for second lowest of the season with three other games (vs IUPUI, vs Pepperdine, vs Tennessee State). The lowest total is 22 attempts, occurring vs Southern Illinois at home.
• Both the Sycamores and Beacons combined to shoot 0-for-15 from deep in the second half. Indiana State went 0-for-6, while Valpo shot 0-for-9.

Up Next
Indiana State returns home on Saturday to host UIC at 8 p.m. ET. Saturday's game is the second Blackout Cancer game for the Sycamores. The Blackout Cancer game is part of an annual series of events raising funds for cancer research and care, and fans are encouraged to wear black.

Indiana State is down to just three games left on the schedule for the regular season. ISU hosts UIC this Saturday, travels to Evansville on February 28, and wraps up the regular season at home on Sunday, March 3 for Senior Day.
 
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