TERRE HAUTE — Sometimes, when asking a question as a reporter, confidently using a $50 word puts you at risk of being exposed for having a 50-cent brain.
In the press conference after Indiana State’s 60-54 victory over Oral Roberts on Sunday, I asked Indiana State coach Kevin McKenna how ISU guard Harry Marshall and forward Dwayne Lathan have developed their “symbiosis” which has served the Sycamores so well in multiple games during their 6-3 start.
“I don’t know what symbiosis means,” McKenna said. “But Dwayne and Harry do have a good feel for each other.”
After the press conference, a good-natured poll of the press room at Hulman Center was unanimous — no one else knew what symbiosis was either. Which made me kind of nervous that I stumbled into one of those 50-cent brain moments.
I’m happy to report that symbiosis — two bodies that are dependent on each other — is indeed a real word and that it was used properly, which in my case, just goes to show that the blind squirrel does occasionally find the nut.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re familiar with the word or not. If you’ve never heard of symbiosis, you can easily illustrate the word’s meaning by observing the way Marshall and Lathan have worked together on the floor this season.
On-court chemistry on the offensive end has been so-so for the Sycamores this season. Sunday’s game was a microcosm of that as the offense was alternately crisp and occasionally bogged down into ugly shots and questionable decision-making. However, when the chips have been down, it’s been the Marshall-Lathan connection that has served the Sycamores best, especially in the last two games, as Marshall and Lathan have accounted for 49 percent of ISU’s scoring against Ball State and ORU.
“Chemistry, not just between me and Harry, is getting better and better. We’re getting better at knowing what we’re going to do,” Lathan said. “Harry knows when he’s driving, I’m going to the basket. He’s knows when I’m driving, he’s spotting up. Everybody knows what each other is going to do, we’re making the extra pass and getting everyone involved.”
Marshall and Lathan teamed up to almost single-handedly wipe out an ISU deficit that peaked at 16 against Ball State on Wednesday. In a 15-4 run that briefly put the Sycamores on top of the Cardinals, the pair accounted for all of the points during the rally. Moreover, it was Marshall creating the play for Lathan in many cases ... working off the press in transition, or, Marshall finding Lathan for easy opportunities near the basket for a bucket, free throw opportunity, and an occasional alley-oop dunk.
“Him being athletic definitely helps. You can throw it to the top of the square and know that he’s the only one who can get it,” Marshall said.
On Wednesday, their efforts came up short. On Sunday, they didn’t.
Three times in the final 7:33, Marshall and Lathan connected with each other to create scoring for the Sycamores. During a 10-0 run that got the Sycamores back in the game, Marshall drove, drew the ORU defense, and dished to Lathan for a traditional layup.
Later, with ISU holding on to a tenuous 53-52 lead, Marshall got the ball on the right wing from Jake Kelly — who joined in the productive Marshall-Lathan partnership in the latter part of the first half by working the ball around from the top of the key. Marshall saw that Lathan was open in the left corner and tossed a baseline pass to the sophomore. Lathan buried the 3-pointer, arguably the biggest bucket in the game for ISU as it had a two-possession lead.
If there’s an argument, the next Marshall-Lathan connection would provide the counter-point. ISU led 56-54 with 1:22 to go when Marshall, stationed at the top of the key, went on one of his familiar Tasmanian Devil-style drives down the lane. Once again, he drew the defense and dished to Lathan, who had instinctively gone to the basket to corral either a rebound or a pass. Lathan was fouled hard to prevent what would have been an easy bucket as he went to the line and buried a pair of free throws to essentially put the game away.
“When Harry penetrates, Dwayne does a good job of finding that open spot. He’s a good instinctive basketball player and just seems to find the ball a lot because he’s athletic and he moves,” McKenna said. “One of the things you notice about guys is that Dwayne stayed later than anyone after practice [on Saturday] and shot more than anybody. That was a big 3 he hit to get us over the hump.”
Marshall sees a lot of himself in Lathan, who is fulfilling the finishing role Marshall once had when he wasn’t the distributor.
“He does things I used to do in high school and that I once did with this team. It’s my role to find guys,” Marshall said. “Knowing and feeling him out, I know what he’s doing is something I used to do.”
Call it symbiosis. Call it whatever. But call it a fruitful partnership for the Sycamores.
Todd Golden is sports editor of the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. He can be reached at (812) 231-4272 or todd.golden@tribstar.com. Check out Golden’s blog at blogs.tribstar.com/downinthevalley.
College
From the Press Box: Symbiosis? ISU's Marshall and Lathan have it
- College
-
-
DeNato proves IU can pitch too
Joey DeNato dispelled the notion that College World Series newcomer Indiana is all about offense.
The junior left-hander threw a four-hitter and the Hoosiers looked mighty comfortable at TD Ameritrade Park while beating Louisville 2-0 on Saturday night. -
Etherington, Moore happy to be with ISU basketball
Not even two weeks into their college experience, Indiana State freshmen men’s basketball players Alex Etherington and Demetrius Moore stood sentinel as 115 kids ran around them collecting basketballs and getting autographs at the Greg Lansing Basketball Camp on Thursday.
-
ISU's Johnson invited to World University Games
Indiana State senior Felisha Johnson will be traveling the world this summer after being named to represent the United States in the women’s shot put at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia.
-
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Close, but no cigar, theme for ISU sports in 2012-13
When I covered my first event of Indiana State’s 2012-13 season — ISU’s opening football game at Indiana — I was the first one in the press box at IU’s Memorial Stadium. I’m never the first one in the press box.
Maybe the prospect of ISU’s season had me so pumped that I decided to get it started close to three hours early? (Or more truthfully, maybe I was over-vigilent about predicted traffic horrors on the Indiana 46 bypass that never came to pass.) -
Q&A: ISU football coach Mike Sanford ready for fall
It’s hard to believe, but Mike Sanford has already been Indiana State’s football coach for six months.
Time flies, but Sanford’s task of preparing for his first season in charge of the Sycamores comes with few breaks. -
Rex streak ends at 7
The Terre Haute Rex table setters — Kyle Kempf and Tyler Wampler — had three of the team’s eight hits Friday at Bob Warn Field, but the Rex offense found itself in a big early deficit for the first time this season.
-
Manaea’s selection puts ISU in spotlight
Once the stress and hang-wringing over where Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea might get drafted was over, the angst subsided and was replaced with a happier emotion. Pride.
-
ISU’s Hope places 13th in NCAA pole vault
Indiana State senior Nicole Hope concluded her final competition of the 2013 outdoor season on Friday as she tied for 13th in the women’s pole vault at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
-
Metro roundup: Former Sycamores take talents to CFL
Former Indiana State players Johnny Towalid and Justin Hilton were signed by teams in the Canadian Football League this week.
-
Exit Minnesota, enter Oregon State on 2016 football schedule
When the Big Ten Conference implemented a nine-game football schedule starting in 2016 and discouraged members from playing Football Championship Subdivision teams, there was one game on Indiana State’s future schedule that was likely on borrowed time.
ISU’s scheduled game at Minnesota in 2016. -
METRO ROUNDUP: Swift reaches finals of NCAA Championships in 110-meter hurdles
Indiana State junior Greggmar Swift will be among the top eight in the NCAA in the 110-meter hurdles after qualifying for Saturday’s finals on Thursday.
Swift ran a time of 13.51 seconds to take third in his heat. He’ll run in either lane 1 or lane 8 on Saturday.
“I got out pretty good and then I hurdled three or four when I got bumped and it threw me off my rhythm,” said Swift, a native of Barbados. “I tried to get back my rhythm … but I held on for the third place.” -
ISU's Manaea selected 34th overall by Royals
Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea selected 34th overall by the Kansas City Royals.
-
Sycamores ready for more NCAA track success
Five of the six Indiana State athletes in Eugene, Ore., already have had some memorable track and field careers for the Sycamores.
But they’ll go ahead and try to add to their list of accomplishments in the NCAA outdoor championships this weekend.
Dustin Betz has been a scorer and key piece of eight Missouri Valley Conference championship teams between track and cross country. He’ll compete today in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as the Sycamores’ second best in the event behind Jordan Fife. -
Mike Lucas joins ISU football staff
What traits do head football coaches seek out when they hire position coaches?
Indiana State football coach Mike Sanford provided insight into that question as he hired former Southeast Louisiana head coach Mike Lucas to his staff Tuesday. Lucas will be the Sycamores’ defensive line coach.
“You have to look at your staff and see what you need. I felt like in this particular case, I wanted an experienced defensive line coach. I feel like we have a mixture of experience and youth and I want to keep that going,” Sanford said. -
TODD GOLDEN: MVC Tourney can be ISU success story if work is done
Prior to last week’s Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament at Illinois State’s Duffy Bass Field, fear and loathing prevailed in some corners of the conference.
It seemed that Missouri State, Creighton, and most notably, Wichita State, had a monopoly on the season-ending tournament since the Coolidge Administration. (It had actually been since 1998.) How could the tournament make it without playing in one of the three aforementioned universities’ big venues? - COLLEGE REPORT: Wabash College All-American relay team has TH flavor
-
Six Sycamores heading to NCAA Track and Field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman punched their tickets Friday to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore. Two more got the job done Saturday on the campus of UNC Greensoboro in the East Preliminary.
-
Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
Indiana State’s baseball was out of pitching, and after a loss to Wichita State on Thursday, the Sycamores were out of second-chances too at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. What the Sycamores weren’t out of was heart, guts and clutch performances from some unlikely sources. But in the end, Friday’s elimination game rematch against the Shockers was a sampling of ISU’s season overall — the Sycamores were out of luck.
-
Metro Sports: Chalk up No. 5 for Liz Evans
Senior Liz Evans capped the top career in Rose-Hulman athletics history with her fifth national championship and eighth All-American award at Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday.
-
Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman have punched their tickets to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore., with their Friday efforts in the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary at Aggie Stadium on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
-
Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch
Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent. -
Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship
Indiana State’s Wednesday morning wish list probably read something like this: a dominant complete game effort from starting pitcher Devin Moore, near-immaculate defense to support him, and a steady diet of clutch situational hitting from lineup spots one to nine.
-
Terre Haute's Mascari running 10,000 meters for chance to get to Hayward Field
Indiana State freshman and Terre Haute North graduate John Mascari is among the enormous group of Sycamores competing this weekend at the NCAA East Preliminary. The top 48 NCAA track and field competitors in each event on this half of the United States are narrowed down to 12 who will compete at the NCAA meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
-
Manaea's shoulder causing him latest pain
Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea has battled through so many aches and pains during the 2013 season that it can be hard to discern the serious pain from the pain he pitches through.
-
ISU's Negele answers call in big way in wake of Manaea injury
When Indiana State starting pitcher Sean Manaea slumped on the mound in obvious pain after he took his warm-up pitches, red flags raised for ISU’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament hopes.
-
ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction
Indiana State’s baseball team has been waiting all season for its stars to align.
But this is the 2013 Sycamores, after all, and after a season in which seemingly little has gone right, it appears its stars will remain crossed at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. -
ISU track sending record 22 to postseason
On the heels of their thrilling double victory at the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships both the Indiana State men and women moved up in the national rankings which were released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
-
ISU's athletic treasure trove
Think of every championship that Indiana State has won in each of its sports, past and present. Think of every tournament — postseason or regular season — which the Sycamores have claimed as their own.
-
Ort sets ISU RBI record in 16-7 win
Robby Ort celebrated his Indiana State baseball Senior Day on Saturday by becoming the Sycamores’ all-time leader in RBIs as ISU ended its regular season with a 16-7 win over Bradley at Bob Warn Field.
-
Bradley ends 16-game MVC losing streak against ISU
Momentum was the only thing riding on Indiana State’s baseball game against Bradley on Friday. With a five-game winning streak going, ISU wanted to keep the good vibes going into next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
ISU couldn’t do it. - More College Headlines
-
Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On'
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Rain Damages Brazil Soccer Stadium
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
Hoffa Mystery Still Fascinates After 4 Decades
Raw: NASCAR Driver Jason Leffler Dies in Wreck
Robot Action Connected to Human Thought
3 Charged in Ohio With Enslaving Mom, Daughter
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
Falling Cable Hurts 10 NASCAR Fans
NYC 911 Call Lasts for 8 Hours
Raw: 1 Dead in Shooting at Mo. Apartment Complex
Raw: Marines Land Osprey on Japanese Ship
Raw: Volcano Erupts Near Mexico City
California Cops Cruise on Stand-up Paddle Patrol
Raw: First Lady, Daughters Enjoy Irish Sights
Raw: Obama Arrives in Berlin
Obama: NSA Secret Data Gathering 'Transparent'
Boeing, Airbus Battle for Sales Supremacy
Pa. Girl Who Took on Donor Rules Gets Lungs
Spurs' Popovich has no problem with Spurs' intensity
Inside Kim Kardashian's Premature Labor
Three Charged for Enslaving Mother and Daughter
Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach
Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane
Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber
WATCH IT: Lil Wayne tramples American flag
Mariah Carey Looks Beautiful in a Tiny Cut-Out Swimsuit
Out of Control Boat Throws Passengers Overboard
See Lindsay Lohan in Rehab
Sofia Vergara Posts Perky Backside Pic in Thong
Gaga Ditches Her Crazy Couture
Caught on Tape: Teacher Accused of Beating Autistic Child
"Stay Classy" Campaign Aims to Curb Binge Drinking
Sesame Street Tackling Tough Topic Parents in Jail
Miss Utah Fumbles Interview Question
Deranged man claims Newark-bound flight was poisoned
