By Mark Bennett
All of Lamar Grimes' spectacular plays did
little to console him.
Instead, the last 21 seconds of Indiana State's
71-70 loss to Northern Iowa in Hulman Center pained Grimes like
heartburn. It was, as Indiana State Coach Royce Waltman called
it "a bitter lesson" for a freshman who had otherwise
played so strongly.
Grimes and his Sycamore teammates were clinging
to a 70-69 lead over the Missouri Valley Conference-leading Panthers.
With 21 seconds to play and Northern Iowa pressing tightly, Sycamore
junior Matt Broermann lofted the inbound pass downcourt to Grimes,
ISU's young point guard. Grimes caught the basketball. But after
a few dribbles, he lost control of it as Panther defenders Erik
Smith and Robbie Sieverding blocked his path.
"I just wasn't tough enough," Grimes
said, sighing and fighting back his emotions. "I [take]
the fault for that. I just didn't hold onto the ball."
That miscue was the opening Sieverding needed.
After falling to the court, Sieverding gobbled
up Grimes' lost dribble, and quickly called timeout. With 17.7
seconds remaining, Panther Coach Greg McDermott planned a play
to get a 3-point shot for Sieverding -- the MVC's leading scorer.
ISU defensive ace Marcus Howard had limited Sieverding to just
nine points, 11 below his average. But his final basket was worth
much more to the Panthers (9-4 overall, 4-0 in the MVC).
The 3-pointer never opened up. Instead, Sieverding
drove into the lane with Howard -- and only Howard -- in pursuit.
His layup dropped in the basket with three seconds remaining.
"It was just kind of a broken down play,"
Sieverding explained. "I just tried to make something happen,
and nobody came over to cut me off, and I just went in for the
layup."
Waltman said Howard needed help from teammates
on that play. "Clearly, with [three] seconds to go, we should
have just come to [Sieverding]," Waltman said. "We
should have just come to him and smothered him in the lane. But
we didn't, and gave him a very easy layup."
The Sycamores managed one final play, but
Grimes' hurried shot never hit the rim.
The ending dripped with irony. The Sycamores
(3-10, 1-3) were in a position to win largely because Grimes
turned in his most confident, most aggressive performance of
a rocky season. The 6-foot Chicago native finished with career
highs of 11 points, nine assists, two blocked shots and one steal
in 38 minutes.
But he also turned the ball over seven times
and missed 10 of his 14 shots. And two of his turnovers came
in the game's final 88 seconds.
Waltman tried to both inspire and comfort
Grimes after the loss.
"I said clearly we wouldn't have had
a chance to win if you hadn't played so well and so aggressively
early in the game," Waltman recalled telling Grimes. "And
his comment back was, 'Well, I wasn't strong with the ball,'
which he wasn't at the end. And he played very well. And he's
a freshman. And that's a bitter lesson to learn that we still
had 21 more seconds to play."
Grimes wasn't alone in terms of costly, late-game
mistakes. Senior center Terence Avery had two passes skip past
him for turnovers in the game's final two minutes. Avery's first
miscue set up a rebound basket by Northern Iowa's Aaron Middendorf,
cutting ISU's lead to 68-65 with 1:40 left. Seconds later, Smith
stripped the ball from Grimes and whipped it to Panther center
David Gruber for a layup. Now it was 68-67.
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| Tribune-Star/Joseph
C. Garza |
| Lost it: Indiana State's
Lamar Grimes falls to the floor of Hulman Center and loses control
of the ball after colliding with Northern Iowa's Robbie Sieverding
in the final minute of Thursday's game. |
Avery had yet another turnover on ISU's next
possession, but Gruber -- who led the Panthers with 18 points
-- finally missed a layup, Kante rebounded, passed to Grimes
and Middendorf fouled the freshman. Grimes sank two free throws
for a 70-67 lead with 30.8 seconds to play. Even after Sieverding
sank a jumper from the lane with 23.1 seconds left, ISU still
had control of the ball and the lead.
It didn't last.
And that's what irritated Waltman most in
a stormy departure from the court.
"We had the game won in our hands through
playing extremely well and tough, and we coughed it up at the
end and gave it to them," Waltman said. "And if you
have one competitive bone in your body, that just kills you.
"And I do.
"And it did."
His Sycamores had indeed played as well as
they have all season. They hit 49.1 percent of their field goals,
a season high and a scorching 50 percent of their 3-pointers,
also a season best. Along with a consummate defensive performance
from Howard, the sophomore also had his best offensive night
as a Sycamore, scoring 18 points and hitting 4 of 7 from beyond
the 3-point arc. In the frontcourt, Djibril Kante delivered his
second statistical double-double of the season with 17 points
and 10 rebounds, and fellow senior Avery added 12 points and
seven rebounds off the bench.
And they did all of that with leading scorer
Kelyn Block on the bench with a knee injury.
They rallied from a chilling 20-6 early deficit,
and caught the Panthers at 32-31 on a layup by Kante that was
set up by a steal and a bullet pass from Grimes. They led 36-33
at halftime.
McDermott -- who had all five starters score
in double figures, led by Gruber's 18 points -- was impressed
by ISU's young guard, and thankful that his team's defense finally
forced Grimes into some mistakes.
"When Grimes gets into the paint, that
really breaks down your defense," he said.
"I thought their point guard was outstanding,"
McDermott added. "We didn't have an answer for him."
Grimes somberly acknowledged his statistics,
crediting Howard's shooting more. "I was just trying to
be aggressive," he said. "Fortunately, it helped us.
It got some shots for Marcus late."
Now the Panthers stand alone atop the MVC,
thanks to a victory by Wichita State over Southern Illinois on
Thursday. As for the Sycamores, they'll play Saturday at Illinois
State, a loser to Drake on Thursday.
Waltman was pleased with his team's improved
play, but was still too irritated by defeat to think about Illinois
State.
"That kind of game tears the guts right
out of you," he said.
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