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February 20, 2008

Shocker! Sycamores overcome 21-point deficit to win in overtime

ISU uses 21-0 run to tie it, then overcomes another 10-point deficit

By Todd Golden

TERRE HAUTE — The Indiana State men’s basketball team did the unthinkable on Tuesday at Hulman Center.

Twice.

What’s a nine-point gap with 1:22 left in the game when you’ve already wiped out a 21-point deficit earlier in the second half? The Sycamores coolly answered by tying the game with 4 seconds left and then controlled overtime for an 83-73 victory, one of the most improbable come-from-behind wins in school history.

Gabe Moore had a season-high 29 points and was the unquestioned leading figure in both comebacks. He also had five assists and three steals. Freshman Aaron Carter had his biggest game as a Sycamore, with 14 points and five rebounds, and he was also on the floor for the majority of both comebacks and overtime.

“Hard work pays off for guys and Gabe’s an unbelievable worker. He shows up at 8 a.m. every morning and works with [Associate Head Coach Greg] Lansing. He’s willed himself and worked himself into being a premier player in this league. His experience and competitive nature, his toughness and smarts, are second to none in my opinion,” ISU coach Kevin McKenna said.

Records were not available at press time in either the ISU or Missouri Valley Conference media guides, but ISU’s comeback from a 21-point deficit was obviously one of the largest rallies in school history. That the Sycamores did it over just 4 minutes, 50 seconds of game time made it even more extraordinary.

Wichita State led 48-27 with 13:42 to go, as a Ramon Clemente three-point play capped a 25-4 Shocker run. ISU responded with a 21-0 run to tie it 48-48 on a Todd McCoy 3-pointer with 8:53 left in the game.

How did ISU do it? The Sycamores admitted that they had to try anything to change the tenor of the game, so they went into McKenna’s Creighton club bag and pressed the Shockers.

“I look at my play card a lot because I’m not the smartest guy in the world. I have to write stuff down so I can remember it, but I didn’t see any 21-point plays on the card,” McKenna said. “I did see some thing that could speed up the game and the press was one of them.”

The press worked remarkably well. Over the course of ISU’s 21-0 run, the Shockers had five turnovers. Wichita State was also 0-for-3 from the field, including a dud dunk attempt by P.J. Couisnard. The effectiveness of ISU’s press was ironic given that Wichita State’s press helped the Shockers gain momentum at the end the first half to fuel its 25-4 run that sandwiched halftime and helped the Shockers control the game to that point.

The press gave ISU energy on the offensive end and the Sycamores sizzled from 3-point range.

ISU made all of its five 3-point attempts during the run, including four possessions in a row to tie the game, capped by McCoy’s trey.

The same five players were on the floor for the entire run: Moore, Carter, McCoy, Cole Holmstrom and Isiah Martin. When they were gassed and had to rest, the Sycamores proceeded to go down again, falling behind by as much as 10 points with 2:32 left. Wichita State led 63-54 with 1:22 left in the game.

ISU had made one miracle run already. Did that make the prospect of another easier to swallow?

“It helped us. That and not letting their best [free throw] shooters get the ball. It worked our way,” Moore said.

Most of ISU’s nine-point deficit was determined at the free throw line thanks to ISU makes and Wichita State misses.

Moore made a pair at 1:14 to make it 63-56, and after a Gal Mekel turnover, Carter putback a McCoy 3-point miss to make it 63-58 with 58 seconds to go.

ISU had hope … and faith was even easier to come by as the Shockers missed their free throws. J.T. Durley made just one of two with 51 seconds left to make it 64-58. ISU took advantage as Jay Tunnell converted a three-point play to cut ISU’s deficit to one possession at 64-61.

The teams traded free throws to make it 66-63 with 23.9 seconds to go when Durley went to the line again for two shots in the double bonus and missed both.

Carter made a difficult reverse lay-up with 12 seconds left to make it 66-65, but ISU had no choice but to foul Gal Mekel, an 86.4 percent free throw shooter, and send him to the line with 10.3 to go.

But miracles would not cease for ISU as Mekel was short on the front end of two shots and Wichita State led 67-65, giving ISU an array of options as it prepared to take the last shot.

Carter made it … converting a leaning lay-up with four seconds left to tie the game. Wichita State’s Matt Braeuer’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer hit the back of the rim and floated away harmlessly.

“Disappointing, frustrating, ridiculous, you name it,” said Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall on the double collapse. “That’s what we are, that’s what we do.”

Overtime was comparatively easy for the Sycamores as ISU made a statement from the opening possession.

Wichita State’s Phillip Thomasson drove base line and appeared to have a clean look at a lay-up when Isiah Martin came from Thomasson’s right side and emphatically swatted his shot to McCoy. Carter was fouled by Thomasson on ISU’s trip down the floor and made both of his free throws to put ISU up 69-67.

It was ISU’s first lead since the 4:06 mark of the first half.

ISU never trailed again. The Shockers were down two with 2:18 left when McCoy drained a 3-pointer with one second left on the shot clock to make it 74-69. After Durley got a bucket and foul, but missed another free throw, Moore snared a Tunnell 3-point miss and provided the dagger with a fadeaway 3-pointer with 1:16 left to make it 77-71. ISU was 6 of 6 from the line in the final minute of overtime to pull away.

“We needed this. It was a big game. We couldn’t give up. We had to leave it all on the floor and see what they’d give us. We did it by playing hard, playing smart, by making plays and just not giving up,” Moore said.

The cherry on the sundae for ISU is that it improved to .500 overall at 13-13, but more importantly, the Sycamores are 8-8 in the Missouri Valley Conference race.

The Sycamores control their own destiny to stay out of the play-in round of the MVC Tournament and can all but clinch sixth-or-better (the top six avoid the play-in round) with a win at Northern Iowa on Feb. 27.



Wichita State 73

Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp

Mekel 31 1-10 1-5 4-5 3 2 4 7

Couisnard 43 4-9 0-1 7-10 6 3 5 15

Clemente 40 5-6 0-0 5-5 13 1 2 15

Thomasson 19 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 5 3

Braeuer 43 8-15 3-9 2-3 4 5 2 21

Ellis 18 3-4 0-0 0-0 3 0 2 6

Harris 14 0-2 0-2 0-0 2 1 1 0

Preadom 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Durley 15 2-4 0-0 2-6 1 0 3 6

Totals 24-52 4-17 21-31 34* 13 24 73

Indiana State 83

Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp

Moore 41 7-15 3-6 12-13 3 5 3 29

Arnold 7 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 2 0

Marshall 36 4-8 0-1 0-0 3 2 3 8

Stinson 28 1-8 1-5 2-2 1 1 2 5

Tunnell 24 3-6 0-2 1-1 4 0 5 7

Holmstrom 12 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 5 0 3

Martin 26 3-5 0-0 2-2 3 1 4 8

Carter 22 4-6 1-2 5-6 5 0 2 14

McCoy 28 3-5 3-4 0-0 6 1 5 9

Yelovich 1 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals 26-57 9-23 22-24 31* 15 26 83

Halftime score — WSU 30, ISU 23. Regulation — ISU 67, WSU 67. FG Pct. — WSU .462, ISU .456. 3-pt FG Pct. — WSU .235, ISU .391. FT Pct. — WSU .677, ISU .917. Turnovers — WSU 22, ISU 14. Steals — WSU 5 (Couisnard 2, Harris 2), ISU 7 (Moore 3) . Blocks — WSU 7 (Couisnard 2, Clemente 2, Ellis 2), ISU 4 (Martin 3) . (*) Team Rebounds — WSU 2, ISU 6. Att — 3,759.

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