ISU men bounce back again, beat Oral Roberts

By Todd Golden

TERRE HAUTE — Indiana State’s men’s basketball team has this bounce back thing down pat.

It’s probably an attribute they wish they didn’t have to fall back on as much, but Sunday’s 60-54 victory at Hulman Center over a depleted Oral Roberts team felt a lot better than Wednesday’s disappointing home loss to Ball State.

“Winning makes your day feel good. Everyone feels good going into finals week without a loss in our minds,” said ISU guard Harry Marshall, who had 15 points and eight assists for the Sycamores.

It’s the third time this season the Sycamores (6-3) have followed a loss with a win and fifth time the Sycamores have done it going back to last February. On Sunday, the Sycamores got help from timely offense, Isiah Martin and ill fortune for Oral Roberts.

Fate came in the form of a decimated ORU lineup. The Eagles (6-5) lost guard Warren Niles to a hand injury during practice on Saturday. With 16:50 to go in the first half, starting swingman Kyron Stokes was carried off the floor with what appeared to be a serious leg injury. He played sparingly for the remainder of the first half and not at all in the second half.

The Eagles had a six-man rotation the rest of the way, with walk-on Michael Fletcher playing 34 minutes. According to ORU coach Scott Sutton, Fletcher had just 42 career minutes going into the game.

“It would have been a pretty amazing win with what our team has gone through. We played the second half with five scholarship guys,” said Sutton, who admitted that fatigue might have been a factor in ORU’s late-game struggles.

Despite that, ORU stayed in the game and led as late as the 3:54 mark. ISU coach Kevin McKenna took note of Oral Roberts’ depleted roster and went a little deeper into his bench to spread minutes out throughout the first and second halves. It paid dividends in the late going when the Sycamores clearly had more energy than the Eagles.

“We picked up the tempo in the second half. I don’t think it affected the game right away, but I think it wore into them. I think they were a little more fatigued than us. We tried to make it a full-court game and make them work,” McKenna said.

ISU’s offense, which ran hot and cold in an ebb-and-flow game, was more productive than not when it mattered in the final nine minutes. ORU led 44-38 with 9:20 to go when Rashad Reed took a charge on an ORU possession. It started an 10-0 ISU run — fed by a pair of 3-pointers by Marshall, a Lathan layup and a Martin putback. ISU led 48-44 with 6:47 left.

ORU wasn’t done. Successive 3-pointers by Dominique Morrison (who led ORU with 17 points) and Michael Craion put the Eagles back on top. The lead changed hands twice more before Lathan hit a 15-footer with 3:27 left in the game to make it 53-52. It was the last of 10 lead changes.

ISU ensured that it wouldn’t lose another lead thanks to good court vision from Marshall. The senior was on the right baseline when he found Lathan for a 3-pointer in the left corner to make it 56-52. After ORU hit a pair of free throws, Marshall drove the lane and found Lathan again, who was fouled and went to the line for two free throws with 1:22 left to make it 58-54.

Lathan finished with a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds.

After that, ISU’s defense kicked in. Lathan forced Morrison to take an off-balance 14-footer with a minute left that was off the mark. After ISU couldn’t score on its end, Martin swatted a Craion shot in the paint, which was quickly converted for a breakaway Reed layup to seal the game.

The Sycamores also got a big lift from Martin, who has played sparingly of late. The junior made the most of his 11 minutes as nearly all of his two points, three rebounds and two blocks came when the game was in the balance in the final nine minutes.

“I’m glad coach gave me a chance. I’ve been working really hard in practice. It’s the hardest I’ve been working since i was a freshman. I felt like I could help against their big men, and if I got a shot, I wanted to make sure I took advantage of it,” Martin said. “It means a lot to me. I know what I have to do now. I know what I do in practice needs to translate into the games.”

ISU also outrebounded ORU 33-31. The Eagles averaged a seven-rebound advantage of their opponents coming into the contest.

ISU has exams this week. It will next play Saturday at Toledo in the return game of last year’s BracketBuster game.



Oral Roberts 54

Player Min FG 3P FT R A PF PT

Stokes 10 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 3

Craion 31 3-8 1-1 0-0 5 1 4 7

Ford 25 1-7 0-0 3-4 5 3 2 5

Holdman 37 4-6 1-2 0-0 7 0 2 9

Morrison 40 5-12 2-3 5-6 6 5 2 17

Fletcher 34 2-8 1-7 0-0 3 0 2 5

Bell-Holter 23 3-8 0-2 2-2 3 1 0 8

Totals 19-52 6-17 10-12 *31 10 12 54

Indiana State 60

Player Min FG 3P FT R A PF PT

Kelly 24 3-5 1-2 0-0 5 3 3 7

Leitnaker 18 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 0 1 2

Reed 27 3-8 2-6 0-0 2 0 0 8

Lathan 32 6-14 1-2 3-4 7 1 3 16

Marshall 37 6-11 3-4 0-0 4 8 2 15

Doluony 6 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Crawford 11 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 2

Martin 11 1-2 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 2

Printy 13 1-3 0-2 0-0 2 0 0 2

Carter 4 1-3 0-1 2-2 2 0 1 4

Richard 17 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 2

Totals 24-57 7-18 5-6 *33 12 13 60

Halftime score — ORU 27, ISU 26. FG Pct. — ORU .365; ISU .421; 3P Pct. — ORU .353; ISU .389; FT Pct. — ORU .833; ISU .833. Steals — ORU 3 (Ford, Holdman, Fletcher); ISU 4 (Leitnaker 2, Lathan 2). Blocks — ORU 0, ISU 3 (Martin 2). Turnovers — ORU 13 (Fletcher 4), ISU 11 (Marshall 4). Team rebounds* — ORU 2, ISU 2. A — 3,357.

Next — ISU (6-3) will play at Toledo on Saturday. Oral Roberts (6-5) will play at Louisville on Wednesday.

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