Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star
ST. LOUIS — Indiana State’s Harry Marshall suffered the worst kind of deja vu against Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Friday.
During the first half, a player stepped on Marshall’s right foot. Preliminary indications were that Marshall re-aggravated his stress fracture in his right foot.
At the time of the injury, Indiana State was dominating Illinois State.
Marshall played on as best he could, but the Sycamore could not hold on. Illinois State tied the game by halftime and held on for a 69-65 victory on Friday.
Marshall played 25 minutes despite the injury. ISU coach Kevin McKenna struggled for the right words to describe Marshall’s grit.
“I was worried about hurting Harry worse. I didn’t want him to hurt himself, I didn’t want to feel like he had to give us something when he couldn’t. It’s a fine line between knowing what’s inside that young man and having hurt him even more or hurt our team. Hopefully for Harry’s sake, he’s got some more games in him,” McKenna said.
Dwayne Lathan had a career-high 27 points to lead all scorers. He also had 10 rebounds. Rashad Reed had 12 points. Illinois State was co-led by Osiris Eldridge and Austin Hill, who each had 17 points.
Hill’s points, 10 scored in succession to end the first half, hurt the Sycamores badly.
In the first half, ISU played inspired defense, keeping Illinois State big men Dinma Odiakosa, Tony Lewis and Jackie Carmichael from hurting them in the same manner as they did in a 75-58 victory at Normal, Ill. on Feb. 24. The Redbirds got no help from their guards either as Illinois State could not generate any offense. Illinois State was 5 of 27 from the field late in the first half.
ISU wasn’t crisp on the offensive end either, but it hit enough buckets to open up a 28-16 lead. Lathan gave the Redbirds trouble with his dribble-penetration as he scored nine points, while Aaron Carter had six points and Carl Richard five points.
It was around that point that Marshall got hurt.
“It was the same thing that happened the last time I got hurt … someone stepped on my foot. It affected my quickness, my explosiveness, but I just wanted to play,” Marshall said.
ISU had a chance to augment its lead, but a pair of 3-pointers by Carter were short. Illinois State was 5 of 27 from the field at the time.
Then, the bottom fell out for the Sycamores.
Backup Illinois State guard Austin Hill ended an eight-minute field goal drought for the Redbirds at 2:02 … and never stopped scoring. Hill scored the final 10 points of the half — once when Osiris Eldridge did a hockey goalie-style kick-save to Hill in transition on a Harry Marshall pass where the kick violation wasn’t called by the officials — as the Redbirds rode his momentum on the defensive end too, keeping the Sycamores off the scoreboard for their final seven possessions of the first half. Illinois State fought back to tie it at 28 at halftime.
ISU had let the Redbirds off the hook.
Illinois State used the momentum it had coming out of halftime and applied it to the defensive end as ISU failed to score on six of its first eight possessions. The Redbirds pulled out to a 36-31 advantage.
ISU responded with a 12-5 run to take a 43-41 lead. Reed and Lathan scored all but two of the points during the run.
The lead changed hands twice more until Eldridge drained a 3-pointer at 9:55 to put the Redbirds in front 48-46. The possession came as a result of a Josh Crawford turnover on an offensive rebound, when he tried to pass it out to the perimeter. It was intercepted by Eldridge.
The bucket fueled a 13-0 run that gave Illinois State a 56-46 lead with 6:28 left in the game.
Illinois State led by 10 with 1:03 left when ISU began to foul. Illinois State made just 7 of 12 at the line in the final minute as ISU actually cut its deficit to 68-65 with 10.1 seconds left, but the deficit proved too large to overcome. A Lloyd Phillips free throw with 9.8 seconds left gave Illinois State its final four-point advantage.
Lathan tried to draw a foul on a three-point attempt in the final seconds, but couldn’t draw a foul or make the shot.
ISU now awaits its postseason fate as the College Basketball Invitational or CollegeInsider.com Tournament are possibilities. Illinois State plays Wichita State in a MVC semifinal today.
“I’d like to say we’re going to play again. We want to play and I think we’re a tournament-worthy team,” McKenna said.
