Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State closed out the regular season with a 77-58 victory over Bradley in front of 3,700 fans inside Hulman Center on Senior Day. Senior Devonte Brown led the way with 24 points in his final home game.
The Sycamores won on Senior Night for the first time since 2011 and finish the regular season with a 14-16 mark and an 8-10 MVC mark. Bradley will enter next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a record of 5-26, 3-15 MVC. The Braves will be the No. 9 seed at Arch Madness. Indiana State must wait for the result of tonight's Missouri State at Southern Illinois contest as well as tomorrow morning's RPI report.
Brown went 11-of-15 from the free throw line to lead the team with 24 points. He added seven rebounds, three assists and one steal in the winning effort. Also playing in his final home game, Khristian Smith scored nine points and six rebounds. Senior Brandon Burnett scored two points as he earned the start.
Indiana State hit 23-of-53 shots from the field (43.4 percent) and converted 26 free throws. The Sycamores won the rebounding battle by a 41-34 margin led by seven each from Brown, Brandon Murphy and Everett Clemons. Brenton Scott tallied 11 points as he hit a pair of 3-pointers.
The Sycamores improved to 73-9 under sixth-year head coach Greg Lansing when holding teams to 63 points or less. Indiana State improved to 7-2 in Valley play at home this season and finished the season with 10 victories on their home court. ISU has now won seven in a row over the Braves at home. The victory was the 60th MVC win in six years under coach Lansing's guidance.
Indiana State opened the game on a 9-0 run as Murphy hit a pair of free throws just over a minute into the game. Smith followed with a jumper and Brown converted a conventional 3-point play. The run was capped at the 14:55 mark by Niels Bunschoten lay-up in traffic for the 9-0 advantage. Ronnie Suggs drained a triple for Bradley, but Bunschoten countered with a 3-pointer of his own at the 14:05 mark for a 12-3 advantage.
Scott fired his first 3-pointer of the game one minute later for the 15-3 lead. A Clemons jumper with 4:30 remaining in the half staked the Sycamores to a 31-18 edge, but the Braves countered with nine in a row as they drew within 31-27 with 2:42 on the clock after a Suggs four-point play. Clemons stopped the run with a driving lay-up and Murphy posted a fastbreak dunk which turned into a conventional 3-point play for the 37-27 lead at the 1:24 mark. The Braves would add a free throw as the Sycamores led 37-28 at the break. Brown led a balanced scoring attack with seven points.
In the second half, Brown scored four points and Smith added a pair of free throws as they scored the first six points for a 43-28 lead at the 17:36 mark. A Scott charity toss stretched the lead out to 46-30, but consecutive 3-pointers from Bradley trimmed the lead down to 46-36. The Sycamores scored eight in a row capped by a Clemons free throw at the 11:06 mark for a 54-36 lead.
A pair of Scott free throws with 2:34 remaining stretched the lead out to 72-51 with 2:34 to go and allowed the Sycamore seniors to exit the floor one last time as victors. A steal and fast break lay-up by Murphy in the final minute provided a 25-point lead. Bradley hit a pair of free throws in the waning seconds but the Sycamores took the 77-58 victory.
Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye scored 19 points off the bench for the Braves.
Indiana State now awaits its assignment at the State Farm MVC Tournament. The bracket will be announced on the morning of Sunday, February 28.
