EVANSVILLE —
Indiana State men’s basketball coach Greg Lansing constantly talks about how the Sycamores need to match Evansville’s toughness.
He’s not wrong. But after a 90-81 double overtime victory over the Purple Aces on Sunday, ISU’s third consecutive win over Evansville, the measuring stick for toughness in this series belongs in Terre Haute.
“We’re trying to turn the corner. We had a losing streak last year and we turned around and won the conference tournament. We’re unselfish and we’re getting the same feeling,” ISU swingman Dwayne Lathan said. “Evansville is as tough as they come. They’re the toughest team in the league, but we matched their toughness. We showed the rest of the league we can be a tough team.”
Lathan tied a career high with 27 points. Steve McWhorter added 12 and Jake Odum had 10 points.
ISU had 23 assists on 31 made field goals. Odum had seven assists, Lathan had five and McWhorter had five.
“We had to be unselfish and make the extra pass. The guys were very unselfish and it led to good shots,” Lansing said.
Still, it was a 50-minute grind the Sycamores had to survive against the plucky Aces. ISU did it with defense and rebounding in the second overtime.
McWhorter, one of four Sycamores with four fouls going into the second overtime, drew a charge on Colt Ryan to start it and ISU opened up an 82-79 gap to start the second extra period.
The key possession ended with 1:41 left in the overtime. Lathan missed a shot in the lane, but R.J. Mahurin pulled in the offensive rebound and kept ISU alive. After McWhorter got away with a traveling violation with the shot clock dying, he found Mahurin under the bucket for a layup at 1:41 to put the Sycamores up 84-79.
It was good fortune for ISU, but fortune it made for itself via Mahurin’s extra rebounding effort.
“His offensive rebounds were as part a part of the game as anything. It really helped us win,” Lansing said.
Evansville wouldn’t threaten for the remainder of the game. The Aces would would go 0 for 7 from the field in the second overtime.
The game didn’t seem destined for overtime early on. ISU shared the ball uncommonly well in the first half and hauled in plenty of wealth. The Sycamores had 10 assists on 12 first-half field goals. The unselfish Sycamores would shoot 68 percent in the first half. Six different Sycamores had assists. Odum had five, while Myles Walker and Dwayne Lathan had three apiece at the break.
But it wasn’t just unselfishness that helped ISU built a first-half lead that peaked at 14. ISU also forced nine Evansville turnovers. ISU scored off the first two Aces’ giveaways and it fueled an early 11-2 run that got the Sycamores moving in the right direction.
Another 12-4 run put ISU up 33-21 with 5:16 to go. The Sycamores would enjoy a 42-31 halftime advantage.
The Aces put a stop to ISU’s offensive flow in the second half and Evansville got its own scorers unstuck. The Aces scored on their first six possessions of the second half to cut ISU’s lead to 48-44.
It seemed ISU would survive the early onslaught. Lathan scored on three straight possessions to make it 56-44 with 12:45 left.
But ISU would fail to score on 10 of its next 11 possessions, allowing Evansville to close gap to 59-58 with 5:01. It was tense through the rest of regulation. Evansville tied it on a Harris three-point play at 1:51.
ISU dug deep. Evansville had the ball with a chance to take lead with seconds left in regulaton after Troy Taylor tied up Dwayne Lathan on a missed Ryan shot. But ISU defended Ryan effectively. He forced a shot from the corner that went awry and the game headed to overtime.
The lead changed hands seven times in the first overtime, the final time on a Carl Richard baseline jumper with 19 seconds left to put ISU up one. Richard made a free throw and missed another with 6.9 seconds left to make it 79-77. ISU fouled Ryan on the other end and he made both free throws with 2.9 seconds left to tie it. An Odum bomb at the buzzer fell short.
“The way they came at us in the second half, they were the tougher team for about 10 minutes, but we came out and responded,” Lansing said. “It was a heck of a team win. The bench really helped us and Dwayne Lathan was dynamic on the offensive end.”
ISU plays host to Drake on Wednesday. ISU is encouraging fans to wear black for the game.
INDIANA STATE (90) — Printy 3-4 0-0 9, Walker 3-4 0-0 6, Odum 2-6 5-8 10, Richard 4-8 1-2 9, Lathan 10-16 7-7 27, Kitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Eitel 2-6 0-0 6, Gant 2-2 0-0 4, McWhorter 4-6 2-3 12, Mahurin 1-6 5-6 7. Totals 31-58 20-26 90.
EVANSVILLE (81) — Sawvell 5-7 1-2 11, Harris 4-7 11-11 19, Holmes 3-5 1-1 8, Taylor 4-8 1-2 9, Ryan 6-20 10-10 23, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Cox 3-6 0-0 7, Cesnulevicius 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 27-59 24-26 81.
Halftime—Indiana St. 42-31. End Of Regulation—Tied 66. End Of 1st Overtime—Tied 79. 3-Point Goals—Indiana St. 8-20 (Printy 3-4, McWhorter 2-2, Lu. Eitel 2-5, Odum 1-2, Lathan 0-2, Mahurin 0-2, Richard 0-3), Evansville 3-13 (Holmes 1-2, Cox 1-4, Ryan 1-5, Nelson 0-1, Jones 0-1). Fouled Out—Harris, Lathan, Ryan, Sawvell. Rebounds—Indiana St. 34 (Richard 7), Evansville 33 (Taylor 10). Assists—Indiana St. 23 (Odum 7), Evansville 22 (Taylor 8). Total Fouls—Indiana St. 26, Evansville 26. A—5,836.
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