Mistakes lead to men’s downfall to Illinois State in St. Louis

Behind sophomore Dwayne Lathan's 27 points, the Sycamore men's basketball team (17-15, 9-10 MVC) battled until the final buzzer, but fell just short 65-69 to Illinois State (23-11, 12-8 MVC) Friday, March 5.

Too many turnovers and mistakes by the Sycamores led to Redbird scoring runs that put the dagger into the Sycamores.

"I felt like we were sticking to the scouting report the whole time we were out there," Lathan said. "Everybody was doing what they were supposed to be doing and playing like they were supposed to be playing. With a good team like that, though, if you have too many mistakes and too many turnovers, it gives them the chance to run like they did."

The Sycamores planned on shutting down Redbird seniors Osiris Eldridge and Dinma Odiakosa throughout the game, because both are major contributors to the Illinois State offense.

And they did just that. At the end of the first half, Odiakosa had zero points and Osiris had only five.

However, the Sycamores did not expect junior guard Austin Hill to be the major thorn in Indiana State's side throughout the game.

The Redbirds took the early advantage with a jumper from junior Tony Lewis, but sophomore forward Carl Richard hit a 3-pointer to put the Sycamores up 3-2.

A layup and a free throw from Eldridge plus a 3-pointer from junior Alex Rubin gave Illinois State an 8-3 lead. Sophomore guard Jordan Printy brought the Sycamores to within two points with 16:48 left in the first half.

Junior center Brant Leitnaker put the Sycamores up with a layup and a free throw, but Eldridge hit his fifth and final point of the half with a jumper to put Illinois State up 10-9.

The Sycamores warmed up after a layup by junior guard Aaron Carter and a jumper from junior center Isiah Martin put the Sycamores ahead 16-12, but Rubin hit another 3-pointer to bring Illinois State within a point.

Indiana State then went on a 12-1 run over the next six minutes to go up 28-16 with 3:57 left in the half. Lathan had nine of the 12 Sycamore points in the run.

The run was broken when forward Jackie Carmichael sunk two free throws to make it 18-28.

However, the momentum shifted after Austin Hill hit the final 10 points of the half and tied the game at 28 going into halftime.

At the break, the Sycamores and Redbirds were both shooting a sub-par 31 percent from the field. Lathan led the Sycamores with nine points, while Austin Hill led the Redbirds with 10.

Although Eldridge and Odiakosa were relatively quiet in the first half, so were the three Sycamore seniors Harry Marshall, Rashad Reed and Josh Crawford. The trio was scoreless in the first half.

Marshall, however, re-injured his foot early in the first half. Marshall fractured his foot on the final play against Illinois State in Hulman Center Feb. 3.

Despite the injury, Marshall remained on the court and scored the first five Sycamore points after of halftime.

"I just wanted to give it my all," Marshall said. "I wanted my teammates to know that I was out there fighting hard with them."

"To me, Harry is a top player in this league," head coach Kevin McKenna said. "Not to take anything away from Illinois State, but I would like to see what Harry could have done at full speed."

Reed also got into the scoring column with a layup and a 3-pointer to shrink the Illinois State lead to 40-41 with 13:32 left to play.

Lathan hit a three to put the Sycamores up 43-41, but a dunk from Carmichael tied the game up.

Another three from Lathan put the Sycamores up 46-43, but Illinois State went on a 13-2 run to extend their lead to 56-48 with only 4:27 left to play.

Two free throws from Carter broke the streak, but another dunk from Carmichael pushed the Redbird lead to eight with less than four minutes to play.

Although Reed and Lathan combined for the next 15 Sycamore points, the Redbird lead had become unreachable, and Illinois State escaped with a 69-65 victory.

Lathan finished the game with 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Reed added 12 points and four assists.

Hill and Eldridge led the Redbirds with 17 points each, and Carmichael added 13. Odiakosa was held to three points but pulled down 13 rebounds.

The major game-changing stat came at the free-throw line. The Sycamores hit 10 of their 14 free-throws, while Illinois State went to the line a remarkable 35 times and hit 24 of their freebies.

"We didn't create enough offense from our defense," McKenna said. "Twelve of our turnovers turned into 20 points for them. We just made a few too many mistakes."