Turnovers continue to plague ISU men in loss to Bradley

Sycamores slip into last place in MVC

By Todd Golden

Peoria, Ill. — Gone in 22 seconds.

Indiana State’s men’s basketball team overcame 13 first-half turnovers to be within two points of Bradley with 22 seconds left in the first half. However, a 6-0 Bradley run took the air out of the Sycamores and proved too much to overcome in the second half as Bradley won 68-56.

It is ISU’s fourth straight defeat and it is the Sycamores’ 16th loss of the season, equaling last season’s total with 11 games left to play. ISU (4-16, 2-7) trailed 26-24 with 22 seconds left when Bradley (12-8, 6-3) ran a well-executed play for Sam Maniscalco, who got a feed from Eddren McCain in the corner and buried a 3-pointer.

ISU had the shot clock off and the remainder of the half to work for its own shot, but Rashad Reed drove the lane into a double-team and forced up a shot with 6 seconds left that failed to draw the rim.

Theron Wilson rebounded for Bradley and Maniscalco eventually got it in transition on the right wing. He buried another 3-pointer at the buzzer to put Bradley up 32-24 at halftime.

“The one that went from two-to-five [Maniscalco’s first 3-pointer] was a well-executed play, he hit a tough shot,” ISU coach Kevin McKenna said. “We work on our two-minute drill all the time, end-of-half, end-of-game situations, understanding the score and the time and when we need to go. We just went too early. You can’t get the other team an opportunity to score again in a tight ballgame.”

The sequence proved to be a dagger, but truth be told, ISU’s turnover problems were acute throughout the game and would have been hard to overcome in any case. ISU had 22 giveaways, leading directly to 24 Bradley points and played a big role in the Braves’ 56.8 percent shooting percentage.

“The last 30 seconds of the [first] half was a big portion of the game, but our inabilily to handle their pressure and handle the basketball hurt us. If you turn it over 22 times in a 10-point game, you’re just asking for trouble,” McKenna said.

Harry Marshall had eight of the turnovers and was disappointed with the way he led the team.

“I had a large amount, I’m the point guard, I have to take care better care of the ball. There are team turnovers, but there are turnovers where I was forcing the ball and not making the smart play,” Marshall said.

The turnovers are maddening for the Sycamores, who have been plagued by them all season. ISU has largely addressed other issues that hurt them prior to Missouri Valley Conference play. Rebounding is no longer a big issue as evidenced by ISU’s 34-25 rebounding edge against the Braves. Defense, despite Bradley’s shooting percentage, was decent when ISU give itself a chance to defend in the half-court.

But the turnovers remain. ISU averages a Valley-low 16.5 turnovers per game in conference games.

“It’s the most frustrating for us. You cut our turnovers in half, and we’re in every game. Every game. We talk about it, we work on it, we just can’t execute it,” Marshall said. “We’re competing harder, we’re playing harder, the same problem keeps cropping up.”

The first half fade was a killer for ISU in other ways because ISU defended Bradley well enough in the first half to stay within a possession most of the way, and when Bradley took two five-point leads, ISU had an answer for each, including a Jordan Printy 3-pointer with 52 seconds left to set up the end-of-half sequence.

Bradley pushed its lead to 41-29 and kept ISU around that margin for the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Sycamores couldn’t combine a stop with a shot.

Printy made another 3-pointer with 9:27 left to make it 50-42, but that was ISU’s last stand. Bradley answered with a 9-0 run to knock ISU out of the box.

Reed led ISU with 12 points. Carl Richard had 12 rebounds. McCain led Bradley with 14 points.

ISU travels to Creighton on Tuesday. ISU returns home next Saturday against Northern Iowa to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1979 NCAA runner-up team.

Please check out Golden’s blog at blogs.tribstar.com/downinthevalley.

Indiana State 56

Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp

Martin 14 1-1 0-0 0-0 3 2 4 2

Reed 35 5-13 2-8 0-0 3 4 1 12

Marshall 31 4-9 2-6 1-1 3 4 3 11

Printy 33 3-12 3-10 0-0 4 2 2 9

Richard 30 3-9 0-0 1-2 12 2 3 7

Leitnaker 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Crawford 12 0-2 0-0 0-0 4 0 1 0

Carter 20 4-5 1-2 0-0 2 1 2 9

Tunnell 20 2-4 1-3 1-2 2 0 3 6

Totals 22-55 9-31 3-5 34* 15 19 56

Bradley 68

Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp

Wilson 30 3-7 0-0 4-6 6 3 2 10

Collins 17 0-2 0-0 1-2 3 0 0 1

McCain 30 6-8 2-3 0-0 4 3 3 14

Dunson 19 4-5 1-2 0-0 2 0 3 9

Norris 17 3-4 1-2 0-1 0 0 1 7

Maniscalco 27 4-8 3-7 0-1 2 2 0 11

Brown 16 0-2 0-0 2-3 2 3 0 2

Roberts 26 2-5 0-1 2-4 2 2 1 6

Thompson 4 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0 0

Singh 14 3-3 0-0 2-2 2 0 2 8

Totals 25-44 7-15 11-20 25* 13 12 68

Halftime score — BU 32, ISU 24. FG Pct. — ISU .400, BU .568; 3pt. Pct. — ISU .290, BU .467; FT Pct. — ISU .600, BU .550. Steals — ISU 10 (Reed, Marshall 3), BU 15 (Wilson 6); Blocks — ISU 1 (Martin 1), BU 2 (Collins, Singh 1). Turnovers — ISU 22, BU 16. Team rebounds* — ISU 1, BU 1. A — 11,033.

Next — ISU (4-16, 2-7) plays at Creighton on Tuesday. Bradley (12-8, 6-3) plays host to Wichita State on Wednesday.