Jayson Kent (20) slams one home in Indiana State’s win over Cincinnati, Tuesday night at the Hulman Center in Terre Haute. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
| NCAA Men’s Basketball | 1 | 2 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati (22-15) | 36 | 45 | 81 |
| Indiana St. (31-6) | 32 | 53 | 85 |
Jason Barnes
Staff Writer
TERRE HAUTE, IN — The Indiana State Sycamores just keep proving the NCAA Tournament selection committee wrong.
Many believed the committee got it wrong when it left the Sycamores out of this year’s NCAA Tournament. They were saying it on just about all the post-tourney bid shows last Monday and Tuesday.
But the Sycamores themselves made perhaps the biggest statement that they truly did deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday, when they knocked off Cincinnati, 85=81, to earn a trip to the NIT Final Four, which will be played in Indianapolis next week.
Indiana State will play the winner of tonight’s quarterfinal game between VCU and Utah. The NIT semifinals will be held at Hinkle Fieldhouse on April 2, with the championship game set for next Thursday, April 4.
The Sycamores (31-6) earned their berth in the NIT semifinals by pulling out a nailbiter of a win over a tense and fired up Cincinnati (22-15) team. The key stretch came in the final minute when Robbie Avila hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to break a 77-77 tie and give Indiana State the lead for good.
The Bearcats had two chances to potentially tie the game, but couldn’t connect from long range. From there, the Sycamores closed the game out at the free throw line, which allowed them to celebrate a truly hard fought win with its sold out crowd at the Hulman Center.
Avila finished the night with 22 points, five rebounds, and six assists. Three other Sycamores also reached double figures in points.
Ryan Conwell had 18 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Jayson Kent scored 15 points and had a team-high seven rebounds. And Isaiah Swope added 12 points and six rebounds.
In a game that featured eight lead changes and nine ties, neither team was able to secure more than a two-possession lead throughout a majority of the contest.
Cincinnati built its largest lead of the game at eight points with 16:31, following a Dan Skillings Jr. layup to give the Bearcats the 48-40 lead. The Sycamores steadily chipped away at the lead with a 16-8 run capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Conwell and Kent to tie the game up at 56-56 with 11:56 to play and setting the stage for an exciting 12 minutes of play inside Hulman Center.
As has been their M.O. this season, the Sycamores went on a second-half run turning a 63-61 deficit into a 74-65 lead with Swope and backcourt mate Xavier Bledson both hitting three-pointers to spark a 13-2 run. Moments later, Kent nearly brought the house down when he turned a fastbreak pass from Bledson into a powerful slam dunk that gave Indiana State its largest lead of the night with 7:17 to play.
Cincinnati fought their way back into the game behind Simas Lukosius’ three-point shooting as the junior guard connected on a pair of three-pointers, including a big shot from the right wing with 2:54 remaining to tie the game up at 77-77.
Defense took over for the next minute before the Sycamores took advantage of a pair of offensive rebounds, the second which Conwell sent to a wide-open Avila at the top of the key and the sophomore center buried the shot to give Indiana State the 80-77 lead.
ISU took over from the free throw line with Kent and Swope converting 3-of-4 in an attempt to make it a two-possession game. Lukosius gave the Bearcats a last gasp hitting a three-pointer with nine seconds remaining and added a free throw with six seconds left to cut the Indiana State lead down to 83-81.
Bledson secured the late defensive rebound on Lukosius’ missed second free throw and converted two free throws on the other end of the court to secure the Indiana State win.
It was a back-and-forth first half with both teams trading baskets throughout a majority of the opening 20 minutes. Cincinnati went up by five with 7:19 to play on a Skillings Jr. dunk to take the 25-20 lead and the Bearcats pushed the lead to seven at 29-22 on Jizzle James’ layup at the 6:13 mark for the largest lead by either team in the first half.
The Sycamores answered on the other end with Kent and Conwell converting three-pointers on back-to-back possessions, and Conwell added a layup to cut the lead down to 31-30 with 4:28 to play in the first half.
Jamille Reynolds scored the Bearcats’ final five points of the half, while Swope drove in for a layup as Cincinnati went into the break with the 36-32 lead.
Avila led the Sycamores with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-8 from the three-point line. The Sycamore center added six assists, primarily on back cuts to Ryan Conwell (18 points, six rebounds) as the Sycamores shot 44.8% (26-of-58) from the floor as a team. Kent did not miss from the floor going 5-of-5 from the floor, 2-of-2 from the three-point line, and 4-of-4 from the free throw line on his way to scoring 16 points and pulling down seven rebounds. Swope was the fourth Sycamore in double-digits with 12 points.
Lukosius scored a game-high 26 points aided by 6-of-14 from the three-point line, while Skillings Jr. posted a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double. James added 21 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the floor to go with a team-high five assists.
UPDATE — Utah defeated VCU in the final NIT quarterfinal game, so Indiana State will play Utah in the NIT semifinals on Tuesday, April 2. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be televised live on ESPN.
Cincinnati 81
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | Lukosius,Simas | * | 36 | 8-17 | 6-14 | 4-6 | 0-4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 26 |
| 02 | James,Jizzle | * | 39 | 10-23 | 0-4 | 1-1 | 0-4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 21 |
| 00 | Skillings Jr.,Dan | * | 34 | 5-11 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 4-8 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 15 | Newman III,John | * | 34 | 3-3 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 55 | Bandaogo,Aziz | * | 28 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 4-8 | 0-4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 13 | Reynolds,Jamille | 12 | 2-2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| 10 | Reed,Josh | 11 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 33 | Oguama,Ody | 6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 11 | Anthony,C.J. | 0+ | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | – | 200 | 30-60 | 10-22 | 11-17 | 9-27 | 36 | 17 | 11 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 81 |
Indiana State 85
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Avila, Robbie | * | 38 | 7-15 | 4-8 | 4-6 | 1-4 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 22 |
| 03 | Conwell, Ryan | * | 38 | 6-14 | 3-7 | 3-4 | 1-5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
| 20 | Kent, Jayson | * | 38 | 5-5 | 2-2 | 4-4 | 3-4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| 02 | Swope, Isaiah | * | 34 | 3-11 | 2-6 | 4-5 | 1-5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 01 | Larry, Julian | * | 34 | 3-8 | 0-2 | 1-4 | 1-0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 00 | Bledson, Xavier | 11 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 0-4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 35 | Vorst, Derek | 2 | 1-1 | 1-1 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 24 | Wolfe, Jake | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | – | 200 | 26-58 | 13-30 | 20-27 | 9-25 | 34 | 15 | 18 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 85 |