Box Score

TERRE HAUTE, IN— Indiana State used an 11-3 run to open up a 14-point advantage in the game as Winthrop suffered its first loss of the season, 66-55, Tuesday evening at the Hulman Center.

Winthrop (1-1) had pulled within six points at 46-40 at the 13:41 mark, but blocks by Khristian Smith and R. J. Mahurin on consecutive possessions by the Eagles sparked the 11-3 run that opened up the game to a double-figure lead.

Sophomore Derrick Henry led the Eagles in scoring for the second straight game as he finished with 15 points while Andre Smith chipped in with 11.

“26 threes is way, way too much,” said head coach Pat Kelsey. “I think a big reason we shot so many threes is we got to the critical part of the shot clock and we shot a lot of bailout shots. I think a big reason we got to that point was our lack of execution for the first 28 seconds of the shot clock. We run a system that is really hard to defend, but it's only hard to defend if you execute it. “

The Eagles struggled shooting the ball as they finished 19-for-59 from the field for 32 percent shooting and just 7-for-26 behind the arc. Indiana State seemed as if it couldn't miss from the floor, finishing at 57 percent for the game (21-for-37).

Defensively Winthrop held Indiana State (1-1) to just four points of a six-plus minute span in the second half but was unable to take advantage as the lead pushed to 50-40 with 10:44 remaining. Smith responded with his third three of the game to cut the lead back to single digits, 50-43 but Indiana State just continued to make shots.  

Gideon Gamble finished with nine points for the Eagles as Steve Johnson led all scorers off the bench with seven.

Winthrop jumped out to an early 10-4 lead after back-to-back threes by Smith and Johnson. The Sycamores countered with a 10-0 run for a 14-10 lead with 12:30 remaining in the first half. Larry Brown scored two straight baskets for Winthrop to pull the game even at 14 all.

With the score tied at 17-17, the two teams went cold from the field for the next five minutes as the two teams combined for just five points during that span. Then, back-to-back steals by the Eagles led to easy baskets, giving Winthrop a 23-20 lead and forcing an Indiana State timeout.

Over the next four minutes the teams traded baskets until the 7-0 ISU run before the half. ISU ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 36-30 at the break after Winthrop had grabbed the lead, 30-29 after Johnson's second triple of the half.

Key plays down the stretch of the first half came with 54 seconds remaining and at the buzzer. Trailing by one with the ball, Winthrop's Christian Farmer was whistled for a flagrant one foul. Farmer was being guarded closely by Jake Odum and ripped through catching Odum with an elbow. That gave Odum two free throws and he was able to push the lead to three points. At the buzzer, Gideon Gamble drilled a three to cut the lead in half before the break but the shot was waved off after being reviewed.

Winthrop remained in the game despite the Sycamores hot shooting touch as they were 12-for-19 (63 percent) from the floor in the first half while Winthrop shot just 36 percent but forced nine turnovers and crashed the offensive boards for nine second chance points.

“I think the first two minutes of the second half were more important than the last two minutes of the first half,” said Kelsey.

The Eagles opened up the second half 2-for-9 from the floor after finishing the first half 3-for-10. This allowed the Sycamores to build a nine point lead.

Jake Odum paced four Sycamore players in double-figures with 15 points as he was 9-for-10 at the foul line. Justin Gant finished with 14 points while Dawon Cummings had 11 and Mahurin added 10.

The Eagles won the battle of the boards 34-28 including 18 offensive rebounds.  

“In a hostile environment against a really good team we were right there but I told the guys, that's not good enough,” said Kelsey. “I'm not going to walk into the locker room and throw a pep rally and do a back flip because you have a chance to possibly win the game in the last couple minutes. You want to be a team that when you have the other team on the ropes you want to be able to put them away. I told the guys it was the lack of execution, our lack of intelligent play at times. All those things, the good news is, all those things are fixable and we'll get back after it on Thursday to get ready for VCU."

Winthrop will return home for a matchup with 26th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m.