By Mark Bennett
The path between Jake Sams' fingertips and
the bottom of the Hulman Center net seemed like a perfect bee
line.
The only obstacle to his last-second shot
may have been fate.
With 1.7 seconds left and the Indiana State
Sycamores trailing Wichita State by a point, Sams caught the
inbound pass on the left side of ISU's basket and pulled up for
a 12-foot jumper. It rattled inside the rim, and then popped
out as the buzzer sounded.
The Sycamores had lost again, 64-63 to the
Shockers on Wednesday night in Hulman Center. Even a school-record
3-point shooting night by junior guard Matt Broermann couldn't
reverse the outcome. Broermann sank eight 3-pointers and scored
24 points.
But even Broermann's final 3-point attempt,
with just under a minute to play, missed.
Though their records of 3-12 overall and 1-5
in the Missouri Valley Conference include some lopsided defeats,
this was the Sycamores' third loss by a basket or less. A year
ago, ISU was cruising through its conference schedule, and then-first-year
Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon was looking for his first MVC
road victory.
A year later, the roles have reversed, as
Turgeon got that initial Valley road win on Wednesday.
Sams' shot could have just as easily dropped
in, Turgeon said.
"Great play. Good shooter. It's just
that the ball's bounced our way a little bit this year,"
Turgeon said as his Shockers improved to 10-7 overall and 4-2
in the Valley. "It hasn't bounced Indiana State's way."
That last inbounds pass could have gone to
either Sams or center Djibril Kante, Sycamore Coach Royce Waltman
said.
"I certainly have no quarrel with throwing
it in to Jake. He was open, got a good shot and it was half way
down," Waltman explained.
"I had a wide open shot," Sams said.
"I thought it was going in. But it went in and out."
Waltman and his staff had tried everything
to break the Sycamores' hard-luck streak. Playing without injured
senior leading scorers Kelyn Block and Terence Avery, Waltman
gave 6-foot-11 sophomore Michael Kernan the first start of his
career, though his court stint lasted only four minutes. "We're
looking for guys who losing hurts a little bit," the coach
said of that move. At one point, the Sycamores used five guards
at the same time, a decision Waltman second-guessed afterward.
And he used walk-on junior-college transfer Batiste Haywood for
a season-high 23 minutes, and the backup point guard responded
with eight points, six assists, two steals and only two turnovers.
The new strategies -- and Broermann's shooting
-- eventually helped ISU overcome an early 12-2 deficit.
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| Tribune-Star/Joseph
C. Garza |
| It feels good: Indiana State's
Matt Broermann can only smile at his teammates Wednesday night
after knocking down one of his eight 3-point shots against Wichita
State. |
By halftime, the Sycamores had whittled the
Shockers' lead down to 34-29. They finally caught Wichita State
at 36-36 on a Broermann 3-pointer, and then took their first
lead at 42-41 on back-to-back Broermann bombs with 15:39 left
to play. Haywood triggered that go-ahead basket by stripping
the ball from Shocker freshman Rob Kampman.
Minutes later, the Sycamores took their largest
lead at 53-46 on a three-point play by Haywood, Broermann's final
3-pointer of the night on a cross-court assist from Haywood and
a three-point play by Marcus Howard.
Then Turgeon called timeout and asked his
Shockers, "Can we please just get a stop?"
They did. And with just under three and a
half minutes to play, a jumper by Troy Mack put them up 60-59.
Lamar Grimes and Kante managed to hit one of two free throws
each a ISU led again 61-60 with 1:24 left. But Jamar Howard,
whose switched to defend Broermann late in the game, hit a baseline
jumper that put Wichita State up 62-61 and the Shockers didn't
trail again.
The teams traded two free throws each, before
ISU went to Broermann on its last possession. His 3-point shot
bounced off the rim, and ISU rebounded. Wichita State called
timeout with 1.7 seconds to play.
"I think everybody in our huddle thought
we were going to win," Turgeon said.
That's when Sams' shot rattled out.
Broermann was backed by Grimes' 10 points,
while Kante had eight rebounds and three blocked shots. But the
Sycamores were again plagued by free throw shooting problems,
hitting just 14 of 24. Mack led four double-figure Shocker scorers
with 13 points, and he and Jamar Howard grabbed 10 rebounds each.
ISU now plays at first-place Southern Illinois
on Saturday. Avery, who broke a bone in his right shooting hand,
was too sore to play on Wednesday, but could possibly play Saturday,
ISU head athletic trainer Dave Ralston said.
"Southern Illinois is definitely one
of the toughest places to play in the league," Broermann
said.
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