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2011 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament – Championship Game Recap
> Follw the entire 2011 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament here at MVC-fans.com (3) Indiana State 60, (1) Missouri State 56 The tension was as great as Missouri Valley watchers knew it would be. It wouldn’t be a Valley game without rugged defense, unmatched passion, and a dramatic finish that captured the spirit of the event known as Arch Madness, the Missouri Valley Tournament. Here was the scene in St. Louis: As expected, the game had come down to the wire. Indiana State’s Jake Odum had gone 1-of-2 from the line, leaving the Indiana State Sycamores with just a two-point lead at 58-56. The Missouri State Bears had six seconds on the clock and were inbounding the ball on their side of the mid-court line after a timeout. The ball got to MSU’s Jermaine Mallett, who had a game-high 17 points. His drive inside, unfortunately for the Bears, was cut short. Mallett lost the ball off of his knee and out of bounds on the left baseline all but ended the Bears' dreams. Two Jake Kelly free throws with one second left put the Sycamores up by four, thereby sealing the game and sending a surprise team to the NCAA Tournament.
The Bears, who entered the game as the top-seeded team in the Missouri Valley Conference, held a 31-28 halftime lead. Things fell apart as the second half began, though. Missouri State missed its first 13 shots of the half, scoring only on free throws as the Sycamores took a seven-point lead. The Bears’ first basket came at the 9:24 mark of the half on an Adam Leonard lay-up, cutting the ISU advantage to 46-41. When all was said and done, the Bears finished the second half 6-of-31 from the floor, with four of those shots being three-pointers. Coach Cuonzo Martin's team got three treys from Mallett in the second half, including one with 28 seconds left to cut the Indiana State lead to 57-56, but the turnover at the end shut the door on their March Madness dreams. Leading scorer Kyle Weems, averaging 16.2 points per game, was held to just 11 points on 3-of-16 shooting; his last basket came at the 11:12 mark of the first half. Coach Greg Lansing's Sycamores shot 50 percent from the field – despite attempting 25 fewer shots than MSU, Indiana State saw the Bears make only one more shot for the duration of the game. ISU wasn’t outgunned in part because it used a strong defensive effort to pick up 8 blocks. Aaron Carter had 15 points to lead the Sycamores and Jake Odum contributed 12 points for the victors. Odum went 4-of-6 from the line in the final 1:30 to help Indiana State lock up the win. Most of the stats went the way of the Bears, but in the end, the victory went to the Sycamores.
As the third seed in the MVC, the Sycamores are now guaranteed a berth in March Madness. Meanwhile, the Bears - who won the MVC regular season title and have a RPI of 37 - will now have to wait for Selection Sunday. Their chances are considered to be very slim, if not already dead, and they could be looking at a NIT bid instead. The MVC is 12th in the conference RPI ratings, which seems likely to be used against Missouri State on March 13. The Bears and their 7-man rotation struggled the entire tournament, shooting below 40 percent in each game, and it came back to bite them on a sad Sunday in St. Louis.
By: Sujal Shah |