By Mark Bennett
Terence Avery didn't want to endure another
second-half collapse.
Before Wednesday night's game at Eastern Illinois,
Avery and the Indiana State Sycamores got overwhelmed in the
final 20 minutes of losses to Illinois-Chicago, Valparaiso and
Butler. As they returned to the visitors' lockerroom in Lantz
Arena on Wednesday, the Sycamores trailed host EIU 26-19.
Avery made sure they remembered those first
three games.
"In the lockerroom, I just told the guys
that in the last three games we got depressed at halftime and
came out and just had no effort. And I said tonight it's going
to change; we're going to come out and play like we can play,"
Avery explained later. "And we did that. The guys made big
plays down the stretch, and we were a team again. I'm disappointed
we lost."
Indeed, the Sycamores did lose, 52-50 on a
whirlwind final play and fell to 0-4. With the score tied 50-50,
ISU senior Djibril Kante caught a pass from freshman teammate
Lamar Grimes and attempted a short layup with eight seconds to
play. Kante's shot, though, was blocked by Eastern Illinois star
Henry Domercant. Domercant grabbed the rebound, passed to guard
Craig Lewis, who dribbled downcourt and threw the basketball
to Jesse Mackinson for the game-winning layup as the buzzer sounded.
ISU Coach Royce Waltman wanted officials to
review the final play on television screens from a WTWO broadcast
to make sure Mackinson's shot fell before the buzzer and to determine
whether time remained afterward for a final play by the Sycamores.
The referee crew of Brett Miles, Jeb Hartness and Joe Ward-Wallace
never did review the play. WTWO replays appeared to show three-tenths
of a second remained after Mackinson's basket.
As Waltman contended, officials are obliged
to review a buzzer-beater shot at a televised game, said Marty
Benson, the NCAA liaison to the men's basketball rules committee.
That rule -- No. 2-5.2 on Page 32 of the NCAA handbook -- was
adopted at midseason of the 1999-2000 season.
"Regardless of whether someone protests,
the proper procedure is for the officials to go to look at the
[television] monitor and make the decision. That is the rule,"
Benson said Thursday afternoon. "Of course, that doesn't
guarantee that everybody is going to follow it."
Regardless, the Sycamores lost for the fourth
straight time, with Saturday's 2:05 p.m. game in Hulman Center
against IUPUI looming next.
There were some promising developments Wednesday.
Avery scored a career-high 29 points and matched his best rebounding
game with 12. He hit 11 of 18 field goals and 7 of 8 free throws,
after sitting out the game's first five minutes. The Sycamores
also held EIU to 37 percent field goal shooting, and outrebounded
the Panthers 40-31.
|
|
 |
| Tribune-Star/Joseph
C. Garza |
| Good job: Eastern Illinois
center Jesse Mackinson (left) is congratulated by teammate Todd
Bergmann after Mackinson made a last-second shot Tuesday night
to defeat Indiana State in Lantz Gym at Charleston, Ill. |
Waltman used a new lineup, with senior Kelyn
Block, sophomore Marcus Howard and freshman Lamar Grimes at guards,
Kante at center and freshman Jake Sams at forward. Sams had scored
13 points in Sunday's loss at Butler. At Charleston, though,
Avery was the only Sycamore to score more than eight points.
The rest of the team was 8 for 38 from the field (21 percent).
Sams had four points and three rebounds in 10 minutes.
Eventually, Kante and Avery were playing together
as they had as starters in the first three games.
"One of the problems is a lack of consistency,
not in the team but in individuals," Waltman said. "Jake
played in a way over at Butler that he earned the start, but
did not really come out ready to go tonight. On the other hand,
we've not won with Terence and Djibril in there together, but
those two guys played with a lot of energy and fight tonight.
But somebody's got to start playing with some consistency so
we know who in the heck it is we are supposed to have in there."
Avery's numbers raised his averages to team-highs
of 15 points and seven rebounds per game. He's ready to play
in whatever role necessary, he said, but enjoys being in tandem
with Kante.
"I'm hoping we can play together in there,"
the 6-foot-9, 240-pound Avery said of his 6-8, 245-pound teammate.
"I just want to help the team win."
And Wednesday's comeback from a halftime deficit
offered some hope.
"They actually made some plays down the
stretch," Waltman said. "Clearly, we were one play
short. But if we would compete like that and have the courage
to make some plays, we'll have a chance."
|
