NORMAL, Ill. – Indiana State men's basketball fell to Illinois State on Sunday, 85-65.
Ian Scott led the Sycamores in scoring with a game-high 20 points on 6-for-10 shooing from the field and 3-for-5 from three.
Xavier Hall scored 11 points and tied for the game-high with four assists.
Camp Wagner pitched in 10 points and seven rebounds.
Derek Vorst scored chipped in eight points and five rebounds, while
Enel St. Bernard added five rebounds and two blocks.
Ian Scott opened the game on fire, knocking down his first three shots – all from downtown. He scored 11 of his points in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the game, chipping in a pair of free throws with his threes. His points sandwiched a
Derek Vorst triple. At the 14:30 mark in the first half, Indiana State led 13-11.
Illinois State closed the rest of the half outscoring Indiana State 31-12 as they shot 50% from the field versus the Sycamores' 4-for-16 shooting.
The first-half deficit the Sycamores found themselves in proved to be the difference – Indiana State in the second half shot 57.1% from the field, trailing in the half in total scoring 43-40.
The second half opened back-and-forth in scoring; an
Xavier Hall layup at 14:54 tied the second-half scoring at 10. Over the next seven minutes, the Redbirds went up by 28, 71-43.
A 19-8 Redbird run from 13:55-8:12 gave them a 28-point lead, but the Sycamores closed the game outscoring Illinois State 16-7 to cut into the deficit.
Jayan Walker made a three with under a minute to play and
Caden Huttenlocker drained one at the buzzer, but it was Illinois State that came away with the win, 85-65.
News & Notes
- Indiana State shot 9-for-24 from three in the game, the second-best mark of the season and the best against a Division I team (shot 43.8% against Eureka).
- Sycamores continue to struggle at the line after shooting 59.3% (16-for-27) against Illinois State.
- Indiana State headed into the Milwaukee game shooting 74.6% from the line. In the last three games (MKE, Bradley, Illinois State), the Sycamores are shooting 65.8%.
- The Sycamores were getting to the line just about 17 times per game entering Milwaukee. In those last three games, Indiana State has averaged just over 25 attempts per game. This helped contribute to the Redbirds outscoring the Sycamores in the paint 42-22.
- Indiana State turned the ball over 11 times, the second lowest in the month of December. Those 11 turnovers turned into 14 points off turnovers for Illinois State.
- Conversely, the Sycamores forced Illinois State to only four (4) turnovers – and scored eight points on those four turnovers.
- The Sycamores attempted 12 more free throws on Sunday but gave more 19 field goal attempts (Indiana State attempted 46 field goals to Illinois State's 65.
- With 28 total rebounds (two offensive rebounds), it tied the season-low in rebounding margin at -21.
- Ian Scott scored 20+ points for the second-straight game, the first time a Sycamore has done that this season. The last time, it was Samage Teel recording three straight last February.
- Jo Van Buggenhout made his first start as a Sycamore.
- Camp Wagner and Sterling Young continued shooting over 90% from the line this season. Wagner hits at a 90.3% clip (28-31) and Young at 91.3% (21-23).
- Entering the Milwaukee game, Camp Wagner averaged 4.3 rebounds per game. In the last three games, he has grabbed 7.3 per game (9-6-7).
Up Next
The Sycamores will be off for the holidays until hosting Belmont on Monday, December 29. The game tips off at 7 p.m. ET.
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