2011 Missouri Valley Conference Basketball

Indiana State Sycamores vs Missouri State Bears Basketball Recap

Indiana State 70, Missouri State 69

For the first three weeks of the Missouri Valley basketball season, all the attention in America’s Heartland has focused on the remarkable revival being engineered by the Missouri State Bears. Suddenly but surely, the new headline for the moment in this mid-major league is how the Indiana State Sycamores have stolen the Bears’ thunder.

Jake Kelly completed a three-point play with a under a second left in regulation at the Hulman Center in Terre Haute, Indiana, leading Indiana State to a huge home win over a Missouri State team that entered the night with an unbeaten record in Missouri Valley competition. Kelly had been fouled just before the buzzer while making a layup; after a five minute review, it was decided that the shot counted. Kelly, a 72.3-percent shooter from the line this season, drained the foul shot to give the Sycamores the wild win.

The Bears, with the heart-breaking loss, see their perfect record in the MVC come to an end and now find themselves tied for the top spot in the conference with Indiana State at 7-1. The aftereffects of this game were also magnified by Wichita State’s loss at home to Northern Iowa. On one hand, the development is good news for Missouri State, because it keeps the Bears in a two-way tie for first instead of creating a three-way traffic jam. Wichita State sits at 6-2 in the league, thereby cushioning the blow for the MSU crew. On the other hand, that Wichita loss to UNI also takes away some of the luster from the Bears’ road win against the Shockers a few weeks ago. If Missouri State is to have any chance of getting an at-large invite to the NCAA Tournament, it needs Wichita State to do well. That’s the weird but real good news-bad news equation for the sons of Springfield, Missouri.

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On the other side of the divide, though, Indiana State had no pretensions whatsoever about its ability to gain an at-large bid to the Big Dance. The Sycamores went 5-6 before beginning conference play, losing to a lot of bad teams – Loyola (Illinois), Ball State, Eastern Kentucky, and Wyoming – in the process. No one in the Valley was talking up ISU at the beginning of January, but now the world has been turned upside-down for the school that crashed the 1979 Final Four with a fellow named Bird lighting up the scoreboard.

Missouri State was led in this game by Nafis Ricks' 17 points, and the Bears also got 14 points from Jermaine Mallett and 13 from Adam Leonard in the losing effort. However, they were unable to stop ISU’s Aaron Carter (19 points, including four 3-pointers) and Carl Richard (18 points with two 3-pointers), and in the end, were unable to stop Kelly on a drive to the hoop when they were up by two in the final seconds.

Coach Cuonzo Martin's Missouri State squad was up by five points at the half, but couldn't hold the lead and saw a nine-game winning streak snapped by coach Greg Lansing's Sycamores, who refused to go away. They exploded for 43 points in the second half to win their sixth straight game and sustain a midseason renaissance that absolutely no one outside their locker room expected.

Indiana State might play in a league that’s simply known as “The Valley,” but the Sycamores are now reaching some very high peaks, thanks to their pluck and determination. This feel-good ride doesn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer