2011 Missouri Valley Conference Basketball |
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Indiana State Sycamores vs Creighton Bluejays Basketball RecapIndiana State 61, Creighton 59
Yes, Missouri State leads the Missouri Valley Conference. Yes, Wichita State has made enough noise in recent seasons to merit a fair share of publicity in America’s mid-major heartland. However, as this college basketball season continues in the realm of conference play, there’s a third school in the Valley that deserves to be heard from. Yes, it is no longer possible to ignore the presence – or the persistence – of the Indiana State Sycamores. Carl Richard produced a buzzer-beating tip-in of a Jake Odum missed three-pointer, giving Indiana State a hard-fought 61-59 win at home against Creighton this past Sunday afternoon in Terre Haute, Indiana. While so many other teams in the Valley gain publicity for better or worse, Indiana State has been the quiet figure in the league, probably the most anonymous program in the neighborhood. Now, though This game was close throughout the first half and saw Creighton end the half with a 30-24 lead. A string of runs in the second half saw each team pull ahead for a couple of minutes before the other team went on a similar run. With the score tied at 48, the teams went on a tear of three pointers, alternating makes and making the score 57-57 with two minutes left. With under a minute left, Odum got a runner to fall, tying the game up at 59 and bringing everyone at the pro-ISU Hulman Center to their feet. Creighton missed a long-ball with eighteen seconds left, and a subsequent Bluejay foul with four seconds put Indiana State in an inbound-set formation, which ended with the Sycamores getting the game-winner on the shot-and-tip combination.
Aaron Carter led the Sycamores with 20 points including six 3-pointers, five of which came in the second half as he carried his team home to the finish line. Richard added 11 points including the big shot at the end. For the Bluejays, Doug McDermott had 18 points but no one else reached double-digits. Greg Lansing, in his first season as Indiana State's coach, saw his team improve to 6-1 in the conference, putting the Sycamores in a tie with Wichita State and right behind 7-0 Missouri State. In the process, they picked up their most impressive win of the season. Coach Greg McDermott, on the other hand, saw his Bluejays – now 4-3 in the MVC – lose a second straight game overall and a third straight game to teams ahead of them in the MVC. What’s more about this untimely skid for the outfit from Omaha is that in these three games, the Bluejays were ahead at the half but simply could not manage to hang on in crunch time. Indiana State – without an NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001 under former boss Royce Waltman – is suddenly a factor in its conference race. With more close-shave victories like this one, who knows how much noise ISU can make before this season’s done?
By: Matt Zemek |