TERRE HAUTE — Harry Marshall and Dwayne Lathan briefly gave the Indiana State men’s basketball team a much-needed emotional rescue against Ball State on Wednesday.
But in the end, the Sycamores got no satisfaction against the Cardinals.
ISU trailed by as much as 16 to Ball State in the second half. The Sycamores managed to wipe the deficit out, but Ball State counter-punched and held the Sycamores off for a 68-63 victory in front of 7,144 at Hulman Center. ISU’s comeback was inspiring, but the circumstances which got the Sycamores in a hole to begin with were anything but.
Ball State (3-3) held sway in effort for most of the contest and it was borne out in its rebounding advantage (35-22), its ability to dictate a slower tempo for the most of the game, and its defense, which kept the Sycamores befuddled at times, especially in the first half.
ISU (5-3) came out of the gate lethargic and never really got an energy flowing until the second half was past its midway point.
“It’s really disappointing not to even have effort for half of a game. We had effort for maybe half of a half. Anytime you only play 10 minutes out of a 40-minute game, you’re going to get beat.
“I’m surprised it was close and we were in the game towards the end,” Marshall said.
ISU was off for nine full days and last played on Nov. 29 at Arkansas State. ISU coach Kevin McKenna didn’t blame the long layoff for ISU’s flat performance, but rather, blamed some of ISU’s preparation during the layoff for setting the table of disappointment.
“People say we haven’t played in nine days and there might be some rust, well, that’s what practice is for. I thought we improved from game-to-game in those first seven games, but I don’t think we had the week of practice we needed to get ready for tonight,” McKenna said. “I told the guys we might have lost this game in last Thursday or last Friday’s practice.”
Ball State never trailed in the first half after it took a 14-3 lead to start the game. The Sycamores would close the gap to six near halftime and trailed 31-23 at the break.
“I’m very disappointed in how we started. It was probably the worst we had all season. Everybody wasn’t focused and ready to play like we’ve been doing. The way we came out is what lost us this game,” Lathan said.
After ISU made a 3-pointer to start the second half, the Cardinals put together a 13-2 run to take a 44-28 lead with 13:44 left in the game. Nearly all of the points were scored in the paint during the run. Ball State ultimately scored 32 points in the paint.
“They just muscled us in there. We weren’t fighting for position hard enough. When we did, we helped from the wrong spot a few times and it cost us big time a few times,” McKenna said. “They shot 51 percent and we got outrebounded by 13. They shot a bunch more free throws than us. All the key stats were in their favor.”
ISU closed the gap to 10 when Marshall and Lathan worked together via the press to bring the Sycamores back. After Marshall converted a three-point play to make it 54-47, he stole the ball in the press and threw a perfect feed to Lathan for an alley-oop dunk to close the Sycamore gap to five. Less than a minute later, Marshall jumped in front of a Ball State pass underneath its basket, dribbled the length of the floor and found Lathan for another lob to make it 56-53.
“Hustle got us going in the second half, but when you let the other team dictate what you’re going to do, you’re going to be down and in a hole. We waited too late to push the tempo, get the effort plays and the loose balls,” Marshall said.
Two minutes later, ISU took a 60-59 lead lead on a Lathan layup, but it proved to be ISU’s last hurrah.
Just after his go-ahead bucket, an ill-timed Lathan foul in transition put the Cardinals at the line and they took the lead back, this time for good. ISU was 1 for 10 from the field in the final three minutes, forcing quick shots at times. A pair of Jauwan Scaife free throws with 5.9 seconds left sealed the victory for the Cardinals, their first in Terre Haute since 2001.
“We showed great effort, great pride and great character to battle on the road against what I think is a very good basketball team,” Ball State coach Billy Taylor said.
ISU next plays host to Oral Roberts on Sunday.
Ball State 68
Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp
Perry 31 4-7 0-0 0-2 4 0 1 8
Davis 25 1-2 1-2 8-10 8 4 2 11
Scaife 34 4-7 2-3 4-4 5 3 1 14
Sneed 25 2-3 0-0 2-4 2 2 1 6
Jones 27 8-12 0-0 0-0 5 3 4 16
Hauser 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Watson 16 3-7 0-0 2-4 4 0 3 8
Chisholm 15 1-4 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 3
M. Green 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0
J. Green 14 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1 0 2
Hubbard 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 0
Totals 24-47 4-6 16-24 35* 14 15 68
Indiana State 63
Player min fg 3pt ft r a pf tp
Leitnaker 23 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 3 3 4
Reed 22 3-9 2-7 0-0 1 2 3 8
Marshall 33 5-12 1-3 3-3 4 5 4 14
Richard 15 0-2 0-2 0-0 2 0 1 0
Kelly 32 2-10 1-3 0-0 3 1 2 5
Doluony 10 1-3 1-3 1-2 1 0 1 4
Crawford 12 2-3 0-1 0-0 2 0 1 4
Lathan 29 6-9 0-1 4-4 5 2 3 16
Martin 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Printy 12 2-2 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 6
Carter 7 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 1 3 2
Totals 23-54 7-22 10-11 22* 14 21 63
Halftime score — BSU 31, ISU 23. FG Pct. — BSU .511; ISU .426; 3P Pct. — BSU .667; ISU .318; FT Pct. — BSU .667; ISU .909. Steals — BSU 4 (Perry 2); ISU 5 (Marshall 3). Blocks — BSU 2 (Perry, Watson), ISU 6 (Doluony 2, Lathan 2). Turnovers -- BSU 13 (Davis 4), ISU 10 (Reed 2, Marshall 2, Kelly 2, Crawford 2). Team rebounds* -- BSU 2, ISU 3. A -- 7144.
Next — ISU (5-3) plays Sunday at home against Oral Roberts.
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