By Mark Bennett
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA -- For 40 crisp minutes
Wednesday night, the Indiana State Sycamores made their first
16 games of the college basketball season seem like a mirage.
They hit layups, 3-pointers, driving jumpshots
in the lane and even free throws. They turned steals into fastbreak
baskets. They rebounded and defended like wolves.
And they won, 71-65 over Northern Iowa inside
the UNI-Dome, ending a four-game losing streak. The Panthers,
the surprise team of the Missouri Valley Conference this season,
entered the game in second place. And one of their victories
was a 71-70 ego-killer at Indiana State on Jan. 10. In that loss,
ISU freshman Lamar Grimes committed two turnovers in the final
90 seconds.
On Wednesday, Grimes struck back. With ISU
clinging to a two-point lead and less than a minute to play,
the 6-foot point guard dribbled into the lane and muscled a jumpshot
past Panther defender Chris Foster for a 69-65 Sycamore lead
with 24 seconds left.
Grimes hadn't forgotten his late-game miscues
on Jan. 10.
"But I sucked it up this time, and tried
to make plays," Grimes said. "And fortunately, I did."
His final shot was the clincher, and left
Waltman breathing a big sigh of relief. "It was a great
shot by a future great player," Kante said of his Grimes.
This time, the Panthers (10-7, 5-3) crumbled,
missing their last four shots. Sycamore forward Djibril Kante's
14th rebound of the night set up two Matt Broermann free throws
with 15 seconds remaining to clinch the victory for ISU (4-13,
2-6).
"We got contributions from everybody,"
Kante said.
The Sycamores hit 51 percent of their field
goals, 9 of 21 3-pointers and 12 of 17 free throws. They outrebounded
Northern Iowa 32-29. And they held the MVC's best shooting team
to 43 percent. Panther guard Robbie Sieverding, the conference's
leading scorer, went 0 for 6 from the field while defended by
ISU sophomore Marcus Howard.
"They made big plays, and played great
defense," Foster said of the Sycamores.
Emerging from a rowdy visitors' lockerroom,
ISU Coach Royce Waltman said he sensed Wednesday's performance
brewing weeks ago. The missing element was confidence.
"And I thought throughout the game tonight,
the guys thought, 'Hey, we can win this one,'" Waltman said.
"And that's what we were most looking for."
The Sycamores made a home in the space beyond
the 3-point arc in the first half. In those first 20 minutes,
16 of their 26 shots were 3-pointers. Seven dropped into the
basket. They'd hit 11 of 20 3-pointers in last Saturday's 91-73
loss at Southern Illinois, and on Wednesday they tried again.
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Sophomore guard Matt Berry hit three first-half
3-pointers, including ISU's first two baskets. A layup by Grimes
broke an 11-11 tie, and then Matt Broermann sank back to back
3-pointers for a 19-11 Sycamore lead.
And when the Panthers responded with a 7-0
run, ISU went deep again, getting consecutive 3-pointers from
freshman forward Jake Sams.
But perhaps ISU's most crucial first-half
basket was the last. Berry stole the ball near midcourt and drove
for a layup with 32 seconds left, and the Sycamores led 32-26
at halftime. Berry already had 11 points. And his breakaway basket
was one of two long-awaited transition scores. Six minutes earlier,
a steal by Kante led to a fast-break layup by Marcus Howard.
"Things kind of got off to a bad start
and went downhill from there," Foster said.
But as ISU expanded its lead to 43-35 on a
three-point play by Kante, the Sycamores hit major foul trouble.
In a 90-second span, frontcourt men Terence Avery and Sams went
to the bench with their fourth fouls and Kante drew his third
personal.
Fortunately for ISU, the Panthers blew several
of those free throw opportunities. And, ironically, the Sycamores
-- the MVC's worst free-throw shooting team at 61.1 percent --
shot solidly from the line. And Sams, Avery and Kante all were
back on the court down the stretch, delivering decisive plays.
Another 3-pointer by Sams erased Northern
Iowa's only second-half lead and put ISU up 60-58 with five minutes
left. Avery, back from a two-game absence with his broken right
hand taped, even sank a free throw. And Kante, a 47-percent free
throw shooter, hit one of two to complete a 4-of-6 night at the
foul line.
Kante finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
He even played a season-high 39 minutes. "That's just too
many for his body," Waltman said, "but it was just
a great, great effort."
Howard led ISU with 14 points, while freshmen
Grimes and Sams had 13 each, and Berry finished with 11.
Foster led Northern Iowa with 18 points, while
Aaron Middendorf added 13 and David Gruber 12.
After facing two of the top four MVC teams
at Southern Illinois and at Northern Iowa, the Sycamores play
two opponents from lower in the conference standings. They'll
play host to Southwest Missouri State at 5:05 p.m. Sunday in
Hulman Center, and then play an 8:05 p.m. game next Thursday
at Bradley (5-11, 2-5).
The Sycamores could be close to full strength
for one or both of those games. Senior guard Kelyn Block, ISU's
scoring leader, hasn't played since injuring his knee in a Dec.
29 loss to Bowling Green. His recovery from a Jan. 4 surgery
could be complete by next week. ISU head athletic trainer Dave
Ralston lists Block's availability as possible for the SMS game
and probable for the Bradley trip.
With or without Block on Sunday, Wednesday's
outcome gave the Sycamores hope.
"Maybe tonight could be a rising,"
Grimes said. "Maybe the way we played, we can play every
night."
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