Sycamores snap losing streak

Coming off of a four-game losing streak, the Indiana State Sycamores came away with a victory over the Northern Iowa Panthers, 59-54, Wednesday night at the Hulman Center.

The only Sycamore to reach double figures was senior forward Carl Richard, who started off hot for the Sycamores and led the way throughout, finishing with 17 points on 7-12 (58 percent) shooting, including 3-4 from behind the arc in 33 minutes of action. The Panthers were led by senior center Seth Tuttle, who finished with 22 points while shooting 78 percent from the field and grabbing six rebounds.

With the victory, ISU improves their record to 12-9 overall and 3-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference. UNI drops to 14-8 overall and 4-6 in the conference.  

Perhaps the biggest story of the night was the Sycamores renewed defensive intensity. As a collective unit, ISU held the Panthers to just 36 percent shooting for the game, making 18 of their 50 field goal attempts and only six of their 21 three point tries (28.6 percent).

"They guarded some of our stuff pretty darn well", UNI Head Coach, Ben Jacobson, said.

The Sycamores defensive pressure led to a sense of confidence on the offensive end as they shot a 46.9 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from behind the arc.   

"Our bad offense and bad shooting has affected us on the defensive end," ISU Head Coach, Greg Lansing, said. "We played far from perfect tonight, but the effort was there."

Richard got things going early for the Sycamores, burying a three pointer just 19 seconds into the game. Thanks to back-to-back threes from Richard and sophomore guard Lucas Eitel, ISU stretched their lead to nine points (16-7) with 12:40 remaining in the first half. Freshman forward Jake Kitchell quickly answered a basket from Tuttle with a jumper of his own at the 3:15 mark to give the Sycamores a 14 point lead, their largest lead of the half. Following two made free throws from Tuttle with three seconds left on the game clock and a half-court heave from ISU sophomore guard Jake Odum, the Sycamores headed to the locker room with a seven point lead, 33-26.

Despite an early comeback attempt from the Panthers in the second half, the Sycamores seemed to respond to every jab UNI threw with a punch of their own. The Panthers quickly cut the lead to four points out of the gate in the second half. ISU sophomore guard Steve McWhorter responded with a huge three pointer with 13:27 remaining to extend the lead back to seven, 41-34.

"When it got tough tonight, we didn't hang our heads," Lansing said of his team's ability to respond to UNI's attacks.

Followed by a 7-0 run from the Panthers, ISU senior center, Myles Walker, and senior guard, Dwayne Lathan, each scored before another 3-pointer from Eitel with 4:23 left in the game  extended the lead back to 10. The Panther's threw another punch with a 6-0 run to quickly cut the lead to just four points.

With 47 seconds remaining on the game clock and just three seconds on the shot clock, Odum, with ice in his veins, buried a jumper to extend the lead back to six (58-52). Followed by a made free throw from Lathan, UNI missed a pair of three pointers in the final 10 seconds, assuring the victory for the Sycamores.    

The Sycamores are back in action on Sunday, January 29 when they travel to Evansville for their very first trip to the brand new Ford Center. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU. Tip-off is set for 8:05 p.m.