Mens basketball continues to win

The Indiana State men's basketball team kicked off the weekend in the Hulman Center Friday night when they took on the Ball State University (BSU) Cardinals.  After a close match, ISU walked away with the win 57-50.  

Senior guard Dwayne Lathan led the Sycamores with 13 points, followed by senior guard and forward Carl Richard with 12.  Freshman forward Jake Kitchell led with 2 offensive rebounds and Lathan led with 8 defensive rebounds.    

ISU made 18 out of 45 field goals (40%), 6 out of 16 3-pointers (37.5%) and 15 out of 18 free-throws (83.3%).

"We got a lot of room to improve, but the nice thing about it was we were better defensively at times tonight, really good at times, so I am happy about that," Head Coach Greg Langsing said.  "On the offensive end, I got to let them play, and I know we were really sloppy and a lot of standing around but that is a credit to Ball State's defense."    

The first half began with an ISU 3-pointer by senior guard Jordan Printy, followed by a lay up from sophomore guard Steve McWhorter to give ISU a 5-0 lead.  The Cardinals fought back to bring the score within one at 5-4, but the Sycamores got right back into it with a 6-0 run over the Cardinals bringing the score to 11-4.  

With 6:37 left in the first half and the score at 19-12, ISU took of with a 5-0 run including a 3-pointer by Printy, assisted by sophomore guard Jake Odum, a lay-up and free throw by Kitchell.

The Sycamores wrapped up the first half with a 9-0 run over BSU consisting of four free throws and a lay up by Lathan, and a lay up by freshman center Justin Gant, assisted by McWhorter.

Gant was fouled and went to the line to shoot for one and it was good.  

ISU went into half time in the lead, 38-19.

ISU did not come out as strong for the second half.  A 9-0 run by the Cardinals brought the score to 41-30, ISU.  The Sycamores stayed ahead with a lay up by Kitchell and a slam dunk by Lathan, 45-30.  

With 11:07 left in the second half, a slam dunk by Richard, assisted by Lathan kept the lead going for the Sycamores with 50-33.  

The Cardinals slowly began to gain ground and fought till the very end.

With 23 seconds to go in the game, Lathan was going in for his second dunk of the night but was fouled hard by BSU, which resulted in a technical foul and eviction from the game.  Lathan made one out of two free throws to bring the score to 56-50.  

Printy ended the night with a good free throw, making the score 57-50, ISU.    

"You don't want the guys to have the bad offense affect your defense but it did.  We have to be able to fight through that and to keep winning and keep getting better.  It was really a poor job by me in the second half, I got to get better and we will continue to get better," Lansing said.

The Sycamores will return to the Hulman Center Monday when they  host Green Bay.  Tip off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.