By Mark Bennett
When Indiana State missed its first six shots
from the field and fell behind Northern Iowa 11-1, Coach Royce
Waltman probably thought: "Oh no, here we go again."
Plagued by a struggling offense and sub-par
shooting all season, the Sycamores' basketball team bounced back
from its slow start this time and seized a 36-33 lead by halftime
Thursday night in Hulman Center.
But a collegiate-career-high 18 points by
sophomore Marcus Howard and a career-high-tying 11 points and
nine assists by fearless-looking freshman Lamar Grimes weren't
enough to prevent a 71-70 ISU loss to the current Missouri Valley
Conference leaders after Grimes missed what would have been a
buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Still, the offensive production of Howard,
Djibril Kante (17 points), Terence Avery (12 points) and Grimes
and the team's 8-for-16 marksmanship from 3-point range pleased
Waltman.
"Tonight, Lamar and Marcus certainly
made plays," Waltman said. "They scored some themselves
and they took it inside and got Djibril and Terence some easy
baskets It appears to be the best we've played offensively and
certainly the best we've shot the ball."
The fifth-year Indiana State coach specifically
mentioned the penetration of Grimes and aggressive play and basket
making of Howard as offensive bright spots.
"I hope that's an indicator we're going
to get better," he assessed, adding that he hopes for improvements
on Grimes' 4-for-14 shooting from the field and seven turnovers.
"We still need to get more to our offense."
ISU's players -- although saddened by the
setback that dropped their records to 3-10 overall and 1-3 in
the MVC -- saw reasons to think the rest of the season will be
more fun than the first part.
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"We let Lamar try to back his man down
and try to dish it or kick it out for 3s," Kante noted.
"Lamar got me the ball in perfect position. The rest of
my points were offensive-rebound baskets."
"If we establish a good inside game,
that will open it up for us on the perimeter," said the
quiet, yet rapidly improving, Grimes. "I was just trying
to be aggressive. We got some shots for Marcus late."
One of Howard's late fielders was a trey from
the right corner that increased Indiana State's lead to 68-63
with 2:35 left in the contest. That caused the crowd to roar
the way it during the last three seasons and Waltman to kneel
on his right leg and pound the court with his palms to pump up
his players.
"After I hit that shot, I thought we
had a nice little cushion," Howard said, adding that he
didn't think he and his teammates relaxed too much in the final
minutes.
Overall, Howard was proud of the team's effort
without the services of injured senior Kelyn Block, ISU's leading
scorer for the season with an average of 11.8 points per game.
"Kelyn's out and guys are doing a great job of stepping
up," he said.
Thursday's matchup took a while for the Sycamores
to step up, but they did eventually.
Down 20-6 and 30-21 in the first half, Indiana
State used a 13-1 run -- consisting of two free throws by Howard,
an inside bucket by Kante, an exciting rolling-around-the-rim
3-point goal by Howard after he stole the ball on the opposite
end of the court, two more inside baskets by Kante and a 10-foot
pull-up jumper by Howard -- to move ahead 34-31.
"I've watched a lot of film on this [ISU]
team and I never saw them shoot like that," Northern Iowa
Coach Greg McDermott admitted. "The way they played tonight,
they can stack up against anybody [in the conference]."
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