Illinois State trailed Indiana State 31-26 at halftime and appeared in position to make a run at its second Missouri Valley Conference victory at Redbird Arena Saturday afternoon.
Then, the fouls piled up for the Redbirds, who committed six in the first eight minutes of the second half to give the Sycamores 13 free throw attempts in that time and, eventually, 21 in the half.
The end result? A 73-65 loss to give Illinois State its fourth Valley loss.
“They’re a top-[40] free throw shooting team in the country for a reason,” said Illinois State coach Dan Muller. “That’s just a lack of discipline and I think we lost our discipline in a lot of ways.”
He’s right. The Sycamores entered Saturday’s game shooting 75.6% from the charity stripe, which ranked 39th in the nation, and went 22-for-24 on the day.
Compound that with 17 Sycamore points off 15 Redbird turnovers — including a stretch of six in a row — and it makes it hard to get back in the game.
“That got us in a hole,” Muller said. “You just have to have more discipline on both ends. … It took away our ability to get a lead in the first half and who knows if the game’s different after that? We took care of the ball okay in the second half, but the fouls killed us.”
The Sycamores didn’t have their best game, either, shooting 23-for-55 from the floor and 5-for-17 from three-point territory while also committing 19 turnovers. A bright spot came from junior guard Cooper Neese, who turned in 17 points as he continues to make his case for MVC Most Improved Player. Senior guard Tyreke Key added 13 and sophomore center Tre Williams had 11.
Indiana State coach Greg Lansing said the key to victory was avoiding little mistakes, but he also acknowledged his team has to play better in the second game of the series on Jan. 17.
“If you make those simple plays … they just have to foul you and you just keep extending your lead,” Lansing said. “We just have to be smarter with certain things. … It was just good enough tonight to win. We have to be better tomorrow.”
It wasn’t all bad for Illinois State, though, as junior forward Dusan Mahorcic came close to his second double-double of the season with 15 points and nine rebounds. He was one of three Redbirds to finish in double figures — sophomore guard DJ Horne led with 16 points and junior Josiah Strong added 10.
This was the Sycamores’ second MVC win, which improves their record to 2-5 in league play. Illinois State, meanwhile, falls to 1-4. Tip-off for Game 2 is scheduled for Jan. 17 at 4 p.m.