February 14, 2007 REDBIRDS DOWN SYCAMORES IN VALLEY PLAY TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Indiana State Sycamores played well in spurts but it was not enough as the Illinois State University Redbirds won a Missouri Valley Conference road game for the first time this season, defeating the Sycamores 68-53 in the Hulman Center Wednesday night. “The second half was as good as we have played all year long,” Sycamore head coach Royce Waltman said. “Our problem is with our inside game. I can not say anything about the courage and effort of our inside players. We’re just got some injuries with out inside players and we didn’t block out.” The shooting struggles for the Sycamores continued in the first half of the game but it didn’t start out that way. ISU connected on three of their first six attempts and led 8-3 with 16:32 left. Illinois State tied the game at 10 and again at 12 as the Sycamores started to go cold from the field. At one stretch, ISU missed 10 of 11 attempts and fell behind by 12 with 4:53 left, 27-15. The Sycamores were able to keep the game close and trailed by just 10 at the intermission, 32-22. Indiana State was down by as many as 16 early in the second half but the Sycamores were able to hold Illinois State scoreless for six minutes to cut the deficit to five. The Redbirds regained control of the game with a 12-2 run to lead by 15 with 5:50 left. Indiana State would not get the deficit under 10 points the rest of the game. Adam Arnold and Cole Holmstrom led Indiana State with 11 points each while Trent Wurtz and Mick Yelovich had nine each. Gabe Moore had six assists and six points. Indiana State lost their third straight game and their 10th in the last 11 outings in falling to 12-14 overall and 5-11 in the conference. The Sycamores will host Miami of Ohio on Saturday in the ESPN Bracket Buster game. Tip-off is set for 2:05 p.m.
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