TERRE HAUTE — Indiana State guard Marico Stinson had that look in his eye. It’s a look normally reserved for a wide-open 3-pointer.
Not on Saturday.
Against Bowling Green, Stinson had his eyes peeled on mid-range jumpers. Stinson slipped underneath Bowling Green’s zone and continually create scoring opportunities for himself inside the 3-point line. He got ISU’s offense going, giving the Sycamores a lead that would waver several times, but that was never lost in a 62-57 victory at Hulman Center.
Stinson scored 17 points and was the offensive catalyst in the first half and early part of the second. Gabe Moore was steady throughout, turning in one of his best performances with 19 points, 7 steals, 7 blocks and 5 rebounds.
“We got some good things done against the zone. You have to reach down into your bag of tricks to beat a zone, because you don’t want them to get comfortable with it. I thought our guys did a good job of moving the ball and finding the open man and the holes in the zone,” ISU coach Kevin McKenna said.
Stinson scored 11 of his points in the first half, all of them in a 10-minute stretch where ISU went from an 8-2 deficit to a 23-15 lead. Stinson made one 3-pointer during that stretch, more often, he shot-faked, drew a defender and created a shot for himself closer to the basket.
“Stinson’s mid-range pull-ups really hurt us. He and Gabe Moore both hurt us in the zone,” Bowling Green coach Louis Orr said.
Stinson hit five of his first seven shots. Shooters are always helped by good starts and Stinson is no different.
“It’s important for me to hit those shots early, get my confidence up, and not let my guard down,” Stinson said. “I was trying to make the plays I was capable of making and I was able to get some easy shots. If I make the easy and simple plays, I can help out the team a lot.
McKenna was pleased to see Stinson taking what the game gave him.
“I think Rico is starting to figure this out. He’s more comfortable with where he shots are coming from, he just needs to let the game come to him more. Sometimes he forces things that aren’t there, he predetermines in his mind what he wants to do and sometimes it’s the exact opposite of what he should do. Tonight, I thought he was a lot more comfortable. The in-between game is good for Marico, he can’t just settle for three’s all the time,” McKenna said.
Moore’s contributions went beyond his excellent statistical effort. Moore probably made his presence best felt in the final two minutes. Bowling Green had cut what had been a 12-point ISU lead down to three with 3:04 left to play. Moore made all six of his free throws in the final two-plus minutes, and aside from a 10-second call with 1:05 left, kept ISU steady when it appeared Bowling Green had taken momentum from them.
“I thought Gabe Moore was the best player on the floor tonight. He did a really good job of controlling things,” McKenna said.
ISU (5-5) needed every bit of both Stinson and Moore’s production as it still had maddening stretches of erratic play. ISU had 12 turnovers, considered an improvement over recent games with fewer unforced giveaways, but ISU was also outrebounded 35-28. And the Sycamores still suffered long offensive lapses. ISU went without a field goal for 7:39 of the first half and didn’t score a bucket at all in the final 5:09 of the game.
Bowling Green’s attack was hampered by the suspension of Ryne Hamblet (12.6 ppg) for academic ineligibility, but the Falcons (4-6) fought hard regardless. Bowling Green took an 8-2 lead, but ISU began to get more aggressive in trying to force turnovers, and it combined with Stinson’s early offensive shot in the arm to help ISU take a 21-13 lead.
The Sycamores survived their 7 minute, 39 second first half field goal drought because Bowling Green was equally ineffective on its offensive end — ISU lost only one point off its lead with a 29-22 advantage at the break. ISU’s ball pressure paid off, of Bowling Green’s 17 turnovers, five were committed during ISU’s shooting drought.
“I was getting my hands on the ball and I was able to get some steals. The coaches helped us out, they told me to go after the ball. Sometimes we have a gameplan where we sit back, sometimes we attack, and tonight, we attacked,” Moore said.
Moore and Stinson worked their magic again to start the second half. Moore hit a 3-pointer and Stinson drained a 7-footer to put ISU up 34-24 early in the half. Bowling Green cut ISU’s lead to two with nine minutes to go, but ISU regained momentum with a 12-2 run, capped off by a Moore steal and Todd McCoy dunk to make it 53-41 with 5:04 left.
ISU seemingly had the game in the bag, but the lead dissipated almost as quickly as ISU built it up. Bowling Green began to apply full-court pressure and ISU had difficulty handling it. A Chris Knight turnaround jumper with 3:04 left ended a 9-0 Falcons run that made it 53-50. Four of Bowling Green’s points were scored off turnovers, two more were scored after ISU missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity.
After Moore hit a pair of free throws to make it 55-50, Bowling Green’s Otis Polk was fouled twice on Bowling Green’s next two possessions, and in both cases, had a chance at the free throw line to keep Bowling Green within a possession of ISU. Polk missed all four of his free throws, however, and with ISU making 7 of its 10 free throws in the final 40 seconds, Bowling Green never got a better chance to get back in it.
Besides its February BracketBusters game, ISU is done with its nonconference slate. The Sycamores open Missouri Valley Conference action Saturday at Evansville.
Bowling Green 57
Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp
Clements 38 5-10 2-4 0-0 2 1 2 12
Jakubowski 32 4-7 2-4 0-0 3 4 3 10
Miller 32 4-9 0-0 2-3 8 1 4 10
Knight 27 5-13 0-1 0-0 7 0 5 10
Larson 17 2-4 0-0 0-0 3 0 4 4
Moten 25 3-5 0-1 0-0 3 2 1 6
Sims 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Karaffa 0+ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Polk 25 2-6 0-0 1-6 7 0 3 5
Totals 25-54 4-10 3-9 35* 8 22 57
Indiana State 62
Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp
Moore 32 4-7 2-2 9-10 5 7 2 19
Arnold 17 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2
Marshall 29 1-4 1-1 2-3 3 0 5 5
Stinson 33 8-14 1-4 0-0 1 2 0 17
Tunnell 23 1-3 1-2 3-6 5 0 3 6
Lee 13 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 1 0 2
Martin 14 1-2 0-0 0-1 2 1 1 2
Carter 13 2-6 1-3 1-2 1 0 0 6
McCoy 21 1-4 0-0 1-2 5 0 2 3
Yelovich 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Totals 20-46 6-15 16-24 28* 11 14 62
Halftime score — ISU 29, BGSU 22. FG Pct. — BGSU . 463, ISU .435. 3-pt FG Pct. — BGSU .400, ISU .400. FT Pct. — BGSU .333, ISU .667. Turnovers — BGSU 17, ISU 12. Steals — BGSU 5 (Clements 2, Knight 2), ISU 10 (Moore 7). Blocks — BGSU 3 (Miller, Knight, Polk 1), ISU 3 (Martin 3) . (*) Team Rebounds — BGSU 2, ISU 4. Att — 3,376.
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Zone busters: Indiana State beats Bowling Green to move to .500
Big games from Stinson, Moore helps Sycamores take down Falcons
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