By Mark Bennett
Another hope for revival had just been dashed.
For the 16th time in 20 games this college
basketball season, Marcus Howard and his Indiana State Sycamore
teammates had lost, this time by an 87-84 margin in overtime
Sunday at Wichita State. If any one of several mistakes had reversed,
ISU might have won.
A turnover by freshman point guard Lamar Grimes
on the final possession in OT ... a bobbled dribble by senior
Kelyn Block on the last play of regulation ... a missed layup
late in regulation by Howard ... just one made free throw in
six chances when the Sycamores twice were fouled while shooting
beyond the 3-point arc.
And yet, Howard raised his chin after that
defeat and insisted ISU must try again. The Sycamores (4-16 overall,
2-9 in the Missouri Valley Conference) get that chance tonight
against MVC co-leader Creighton (14-6, 9-2) at 7:05 p.m. in Hulman
Center.
"We have to. We can't just give up,"
Howard said. "We've got seven games left. We've just got
to keep working in practice and carry that over in the games
and hopefully get some more wins before the conference tournament."
There are plenty of excuses for this predicament
available. ISU had the MVC's toughest non-conference schedule,
according to the national power rankings. The loss of last year's
stars Michael Menser and Matt Renn was greater than the team
realized. Mid-season injuries left the team's leading scorers
- Block and fellow senior Terence Avery - sidelined for several
games. Both have returned, but Avery still is hampered by the
pain. And five of the Sycamores' losses have come by three points
or less.
After beating ISU on Sunday, Shocker Coach
Mark Turgeon called the Sycamores the best 4-16 team in the country.
So is ISU -- a team that began the 2001-02
season with six of its top eight players back from a 22-12 record
and an NCAA Tournament win last season -- better than its record?
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"We'd like to think that," ISU Coach
Royce Waltman said. "There's three factors. I overscheduled
with a new team. We've lost some close games. We've had our two
leading scorers miss games with injuries. Those are all true,
but they tend to always be the lament of losing teams. They're
facts, yet they're things that winning teams get by and losing
teams don't."
Tonight, they'll face more adversity. Junior
guard Matt Broermann, who had started the past 10 games, is expected
to miss the Creighton game because of chronic back pain, Waltman
said Tuesday. Broermann had to leave the Wichita State game early,
after hitting his first two 3-pointers in 18 minutes of action.
"He has been unbelievably tough in playing
a lot of minutes with that," Waltman said of his back problem.
So Waltman is likely to go with his 12th different
lineup this season against the Bluejays. At Wichita State, Howard
came off the bench for just the second time this season. Tonight,
Grimes might move to a reserve role for the first time since
the Dec. 29 loss to Bowling Green, with Block, Howard, sophomore
Matt Berry starting at guards along side senior Djibril Kante
at forward and freshman Jerod Adler at center.
Even though Sunday's game ended in another
defeat, Block saw signs of progress. Making his first start since
knee surgery on Jan. 4, Block had 25 points and six rebounds
against the Shockers.
"We were out there smiling. Guys were
having fun," Block said. "And with the game on the
line, that's the kind of attitude we need. We've been struggling
with some tough games and some close losses. We've just got to
keep our spirits up."
The Sycamores were poised enough to force
an overtime after trailing by 35-19 in the first half and 48-33
in the second half.
"It was the first time all year in a
tough situation that we responded pretty well," Waltman
said.
The performance by seniors Block and Kante,
who had 17 points and hit a relatively incredible 13 of 14 free
throws, could spread to the rest of the squad, Waltman said.
"If [the seniors] can continue to do
that and guys draw from that, we've got seven games left and
can win some," Waltman said.
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