University of Northern Iowa
Indiana State
Indiana State Notches 76-74 Victory Over UNI
2/22/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Indiana State Sycamores took advantage of 40 bench points and tallied a 76-74 win over the University of Northern Iowa Panthers on Tuesday in the McLeod Center.
The Sycamores (16-13 overall, 11-6 MVC) moved closer to clinching the No. 3 seed in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament behind 17 points from freshman guard Jake Odum and 17 points off the bench from junior guard Jordan Printy.
UNI (19-11 overall, 10-7 MVC) got a game-high 18 points from sophomore guard Anthony James and a season-high 17 points from Johnny Moran in the defeat. Sophomore forward Jake Koch notched a game-high eight rebounds before fouling out with 4:14 left in the contest.
The Sycamores jumped out to a 17-10 lead following back-to-back 3-pointers by Printy with 11:17 left in the first half. The Panthers whittled the margin away and took the lead following a 3-pointer of their own from Jake Koch with 3:23 left in the half to put the home squad on top, 28-26.
But a 6-0 run that included two buckets from Odum and another from Printy gave the Sycamores a 32-28 lead with just over a minute to go in the first half. Koch drained two free throws to cut the lead in half, but the Sycamores would take a 32-30 lead into the locker room.
A 3-pointer from Moran gave UNI a short-lived 35-34 lead. Indiana State came right back with a tip-dunk from Myles Walker to put the visitors right back on top, 36-35.
Indiana State pushed the lead to seven at 49-42 on the only made field goal of the game by Dwayne Lathan with 10:15 remaining in the game. The Panthers went on a 7-1 run to cut the lead to one with 7:38 left after senior point guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe drained a pair of free throws.
The Sycamores extended the margin back to nine at 60-51 following a 10-2 spurt with 4:42 left in the game.
The Panthers rallied behind a 3-pointer and a conventional 3-point play from senior guard Kerwin Dunham, along with another conventional 3-point play from Moran to cut the lead to 67-64 with 1:37 left.
But Indiana State drained 9-of-10 free throws in the final 1:09 to keep the Panthers at bay. Indiana State had a chance to put the game out of reach with 16 seconds left but a missed dunk by Carl Richard allowed UNI to turn it into a one-possession game. Ahelegbe drove the lane and got fouled with 7.2 seconds left. However, he made just one of two free throws.
Indiana State's Aaron Carter made two free throws with 6.5 ticks left before Ahelegbe drained a long 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds remaining. Odum then made the first of two free throws with 2.1 seconds left. James' three-quarter court shot came up short at the buzzer sounded and the Sycamores came away with the two-point win, 76-74.
NOTES: Both squads made 11 3-pointers and 19 free throws in the contest ... Indiana State made 23 field goals and UNI made 22 ... Ahelegbe started his 103rd consecutive game ... Ahelegbe played in his 129th career game, moving him into second place trailing only Kwadzo Ahelegbe and Kerwin Dunham were honored prior to the game in a Senior Night ceremony.
