TERRE HAUTE —
With 4 minutes, 20 seconds to go, Indiana State’s men’s basketball led by 10 points and seemed to be on their way to a comfortable victory over Northern Iowa.
Barely one minute, one 6-0 UNI run, and a tenuous 56-52 lead later, the Sycamores were thrust into gut-check mode.
While the Sycamores weren’t perfect down the stretch to put UNI away, put UNI away they did. And given the five-game losing streak ISU carried into the game, the end result — a 59-54 victory — was a very welcome outcome.
“It was a good team win and it was much-needed. Our guys can put a smile on their face,” ISU coach Greg Lansing said.
In effect, Lansing is treating the second half of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule like a new season. The team wanted to start fresh with this week’s games.
“They’ve been struggling, pressing, trying too hard, getting down on themselves, all of the things you don’t want guys to do,” Lansing said. “We talked about coming together. We want to start the second half of the conference season with a clean slate. We figure we’re 1-0 right now.”
ISU overcome obstacles to win its first game since Jan. 10. The Sycamores didn’t have the services of R.J. Mahurin, who was sick. Senior forward Carl Richard didn’t practice for the two days prior to the game with back spasms and a sprained shoulder.
The rest time did Richard a world of good. He led ISU with 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting. Richard was solid from the start of the game and played with good rhythm. Though he hadn’t practiced, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t working on his game. Richard credited a correction made to his shot release made early this week.
“I have to give Coach Lou [Gudino] a shout-out. He told me I was keeping my elbow out as opposed to keeping it in. Once I brought my elbow in, that was that margin of error I was missing,” Richard said.
Because of Mahurin’s injury, ISU had a shorter rotation. Jake Kitchell, Lucas Eitel, Justin Gant and Steve McWhorter all played double-digit minutes and all contributed in some way.
It was a running theme for all nine Sycamores that played. ISU’s team defense held UNI to a 36 percent shooting performance. Offensively, ISU shared the ball far better than it has in recent games and made good decisions to pass out of double-teams to create good shots. The reward was a 46.9 percent performance from the field — ISU’s best since it beat Evansville 80-78 on Jan. 10.
“We shared the ball. What we’ve done too much is throw it in [to Myles Walker] and four guys watch while Myles tries to make a play. We want to play inside-out a little bit more. I thought we did a good job of that today,” Lansing said.
“I look up and down the stat sheet and everybody got a rebound and almost everybody got an assist. When we get things like that to go, we’re going to be hard to stop,” Odum noted.
ISU (12-9, 3-7) was buoyed by a strong start on both ends. UNI (14-8, 4-6) made just 5 of 21 from the field to start the game and ISU pounced. Consecutive 3-pointers by Odum, Richard and Eitel pushed ISU’s lead to 16-7 just over seven minutes into the game. The Sycamores would push their lead to 14 later in the half. UNI closed the gap to 33-26 at halftime.
“They came out and played well. Carl Richard had a good game and they had some other guys pitch in which helped them get off to a good start,” UNI coach Ben Jacobson said.
The Panthers threatened the Sycamores at several junctures of the second half, but could never break through. On four occasions, UNI cut its deficit to four and it once got it down to three. In each case, ISU had an answer to keep the Panthers at arm’s length.
Up 49-46 with 6:35 left, ISU had seemingly put itself in winning position with a 7-0 run after a Myles Walker hook shot, a Dwayne Lathan jumper and an Eitel 3-pointer.
But UNI didn’t flinch. Eitel fouled Marc Sonnen on a made 3-pointer and Sonnen converted the four-point play with 3:58 left. After a Lathan miss, UNI freshman Seth Tuttle — who led all scorers with 22 points — drained a pair of free throws to make it 56-52 with 3:11 to go.
The Panthers, however, would not score a field goal for the rest of the game and a Sonnen charging foul with 1:21 left loomed large. ISU, trying to bleed the clock, did so successfully on the next possession as Odum drove to the right of the lane and hit a 12-footer with 47 seconds left to make it 58-52.
UNI had little to offer from there. Chip Rank made a pair of free throws with 17.8 seconds left, but ISU held its ground.
“We didn’t play perfect, but the effort was there. We got 50/50 balls. We hung in there and fought. When it got tough, we didn’t hang our heads. We got tough at the next possession,” Lansing said.
ISU next plays at Evansville at 8 p.m. on Sunday. It will be ISU’s first trip to Evansville’s new Ford Center arena.
NORTHERN IOWA (54) — Koch 1-6 0-0 3, Tuttle 7-9 8-9 22, Moran 4-10 0-0 11, Sonnen 1-2 1-1 4, James 1-9 0-0 2, Mitchell 1-3 0-1 2, Rank 0-4 3-4 3, Morrison 3-7 0-0 7, Martino 0-0 0-0 0, Pehl 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 FG, 12-15 FT, 54 TP.
INDIANA STATE (59) — Richard 7-12 0-0 17, Walker 3-7 1-2 7, Odum 3-7 1-1 8, Lathan 4-9 1-2 9, Printy 1-3 0-1 3, Kitchell 1-1 0-0 2, Eitel 2-3 0-0 6, Gant 0-3 0-0 0, McWhorter 2-4 2-2 7. Totals 23-49 FG, 5-8 FT, 59 TP.
Halftime score — ISU 33, UNI 26. 3-point shooting — UNI 6-21 (Moran 3-8, Koch 1-4, Sonnen 1-1, Morrison 1-4, Rank 0-2), ISU 8-16 (Richard 3-4, Odum 1-2, Lathan 0-4, Printy 1-2, Eitel 2-2, McWhorter 1-2). Rebounds — UNI 28 (Koch 8, Tuttle 6, James 4, Mitchell 2, Rank 2), ISU 33 (Walker 7, Odum 7, Eitel 5, Gant 4, Richard 3, Lathan 2). Steals — UNI 9 (Moran 3, Sonnen 2, Koch 1, Morrison 2, James 1), ISU 4 (Odum 2, McWhorter 1, Walker 1). Assists — UNI 12 (Sonnen 5), ISU 14 (Odum 5, McWhorter 3, Richard 2, Eitel 2, Lathan 1, Kitchell 1). Turnovers — UNI 8 (James 3), ISU 11 (Odum 3, Lathan 3, Richard 2). Blocks — UNI 0, ISU 2 (Kitchell, McWhorter).
Next — Indiana State (12-9, 3-7 MVC) plays Sunday at Evansville at 8 p.m. Northern Iowa (14-8, 4-6 MVC) plays Saturday at Missouri State.
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