By Todd Golden
TERRE HAUTE — They don’t call it a Challenge for nothing.
Colorado State made Indiana State’s first journey into the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Conference Challenge a daunting one as the Rams were neck-and-neck with the Sycamores into the final minute.
Ultimately, it was ISU’s defense that helped the Sycamores rise to the Challenge.
CSU made just 28.6 percent from the field after the break and the Rams had a nine-minute stretch where they didn’t score a field goal in the second half. The Sycamores produced just enough offense during the Rams’ drought to earn a 65-60 victory in front of 4,308 at Hulman Center.
The Rams shot 39.6 percent overall as ISU held its fourth straight opponent under 40-percent shooting.
“That’s the number one key right now. We’ve held all of our teams under 40 percent, and even though we lost to LSU [on Monday], our defense was still there. Holding teams under 40 percent, if you can get a couple of easy baskets and still maintain your defensive rebounds, you’re going to come out on top most of the time,” said ISU guard Harry Marshall, who had 15 points and six rebounds.
There wasn’t much between the two teams, especially in a first half where each team was remarkably even in nearly every statistical category, including a 29-29 deadlock.
ISU’s defense ultimately made the difference in the second half, but the Sycamores (3-1) also benefited from the energy of swingman Dwayne Lathan.
The sophomore had not missed a field goal coming into the contest after making 10 of 10 in two games at LSU. The perfection from the field ended, but Lathan’s energetic effect on the Sycamores did not.
Lathan scored 14 of his game-high 18 points and also had seven of his nine rebounds after halftime. Lathan had seven turnovers overall, four coming in the first half, but his teammates offered him encouragement.
“I was mad about my turnovers, I started off real bad,” said Lathan, who had four of his giveaways before the break. “Harry and Rashad [Reed] and the seniors grabbed me in the locker room and told me to keep my head up and give them energy. They gave me energy and I wanted to give it back by playing hard, making defensive plays, rebounding, doing whatever I could do to help.”
Lathan did plenty to reciprocate his teammates faith in him in the second half — and he got the Hulman Center crowd off their feet several times in appreciation.
Lathan had a pair of thunderous dunks in transition which sent the crowd of 4,308 into delirium, but Lathan’s most important bucket — and the play that turned the worm for the Sycamores against the pesky Rams — was a layup at the 8:52 mark with ISU tenuously holding on to a one-point lead.
CSU (2-2) was on its third trip down the floor to try and take the lead from the Sycamores when Isiah Martin and Jake Kelly blocked a Harvey Perry shot towards the baseline. The ball was seemingly headed out of bounds, but Harry Marshall didn’t quit on the play. He dove for the ball and wildly flinged it over his head all the way to the timeline where Rashad Reed was waiting for it, open enough to be akin to a football punt returner. As Reed waited for the ball, Lathan broke down the floor, and Reed fed the ball to Lathan, who beat a defender one-on-one to put ISU up 43-40.
The play embodied teamwork and helped ISU break a streak where it hadn’t scored a field goal in almost eight minutes of game time.
“We haven’t been pursuing the ball on those loose balls. We kind of seem to stand and watch it sometimes. Harry quickly went after it, saved it, and that was a big play,” ISU coach Kevin McKenna said.
Even though CSU twice got within a possession after Lathan’s bucket, ISU began to convert more consistently on the offensive end. A 10-2 run helped the Sycamores take a 55-44 lead with 4:23 left in the game. The Sycamores had an 11-point advantage, their largest of the game, as late as the 2:32 mark.
But CSU — which had capable offensive talents in freshman guard Dorrian Green and sixth-man Anthony McFarland — didn’t fade. A 5-0 run cut the Rams’ deficit to 57-51 with 1:32 left in the game as ISU’s rebounding — which heretofore had been adequate — began to disappear. Additionally, ISU couldn’t put CSU away at the line in the final minutes, with a stretch of three misses in five at the stripe lasting into the final minute.
The Rams came perilously close when Green cut ISU’s lead to 50-46 with 38.8 seconds left. He missed his second free throw and in a loose ball scramble where it appeared Lathan had been fouled in possession of the ball, Isiah Martin was called for a foul on Green instead. The freshman stepped up and made two more free throws to make it 60-58.
It’s a game that might have slipped away from the Sycamores last year, ISU had several double-digit leads disappear in an 11-21 season, but not this time. Kelly and Lathan made five of ISU’s six final free throw attempts and Green missed from 3-point range with 29 seconds left to take away CSU’s last realistic shot at victory.
“I think if you compare this year and last year, and if you go back to the Wisconsin-Milwaukee game [a 76-63 victory on Tuesday], which was close too, we probably lose these two games last year,” Marshall said.
“This year it’s a team effort. Minutes are spread out, assists are spread out, points are spread out, rebounds are spread out. Being a team that’s coming together slowly helps us believe. When we get into a situation like [Friday], we don’t think it’s going to slip away from us. We have eight or ten guys that can make one play or one defensive stop for us at any time,” Marshall added.
ISU is the first MVC team to win in the inaugural MWC-MVC Challenge, which is now tied 1-1. Bradley lost at BYU on Feb. 13. Southern Illinois plays at UNLV today. The remaining Challenge games occur in December.
“I think the games are going to be competitive. Their league is similar to ours. They get good crowds at their games, it’ll be tough for us when we go there next season,” McKenna said. “Down the road, when we’re talking about postseason stuff, some of these games will mean something. I think it’s an even better situation than the Bracketbuster in terms of that. I think we’re playing better teams than some of the Bracketbuster teams we face.”
ISU will continue its Preseason NIT trek at Western Kentucky starting Monday when the Sycamores face Coastal Carolina in the consolation round. ISU faces WKU on Tuesday.
n Bird joins pregame intro — ISU had a surprise for the Hulman Center crowd when ISU legend and Hall of Famer Larry Bird appeared in ISU’s pregame video introduction.
Bird made two appearances. In a pregame montage where ISU’s players are seen passing the ball around at various campus and Wabash Valley sites, Bird is spliced in the middle passing the ball along to the current Sycamores.
Later in the pregame intro, Bird extolled the Sycamore faithful to get into the game.
“All right Indiana State fans, get on your feet, this is our house,” Bird said.
The Bird footage was taped earlier this week by the ISU sports information staff.
Colorado State 60
Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp
Franklin 20 1-1 0-0 4-9 2 0 4 6
Ogide 32 5-12 0-2 2-4 7 2 2 12
Nigon 30 1-6 0-2 2-2 2 1 1 4
Perry 24 1-7 1-4 2-2 4 0 5 5
Green 36 5-12 2-5 6-8 3 4 4 18
Bocar Ba 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Hornung 20 1-1 0-0 0-0 7 1 2 2
McFarland 23 4-8 3-5 0-0 2 0 2 11
Annese 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Dunn 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2
Totals 19-48 6-18 16-25 32* 8 21 60
Indiana State 65
Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp
Richard 12 1-4 1-2 0-0 2 0 2 3
Leitnaker 20 1-1 0-0 2-2 2 1 0 4
Reed 33 1-4 0-3 0-0 2 2 5 2
Marshall 35 4-9 0-3 7-10 6 1 2 15
Kelly 29 2-6 1-1 8-11 5 1 2 13
Doluony 7 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Crawford 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Lathan 24 6-11 0-2 6-8 9 2 3 18
Martin 13 2-2 0-0 0-0 3 0 5 4
Printy 18 1-3 1-3 0-1 3 2 2 3
Carter 4 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 3
Totals 19-43 4-16 23-32 34* 9 21 65
Halftime score — ISU 29, CSU 29. FG Pct. — CSU .396; ISU .442; 3P Pct. — CSU .333; ISU .250; FT Pct. — CSU .640; ISU .719. Steals — CSU 7 (Perry 2); ISU 6 (Kelly 2). Blocks — CSU 0, ISU 5 (Leitnaker, Reed, Kelly, Lathan, Martin). Turnovers — CSU 17 (Ogide 6), ISU 13 (Lathan 7). Team rebounds* — CSU 2, ISU 4. A — 4308.
Next — ISU (3-1) will play Coastal Carolina at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Preseason NIT consolation round at Western Kentucky.
