SYCAMORES FALL AT ARKANSAS IN FRONT ROUND OF THE NIT FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Indiana State finished off one of its most successful seasons in the history of the program with a 91-71 defeat at the hands Arkansas in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament inside Bud Walton Arena. Jake Odum finished the game with 11 points. He moved past David Moss for fifth place on the Indiana State career scoring chart with 1,568 points. He finished his career with a school record 590 career made free throws, second in assists with 603 and third in steals with 204. Odum was one of four Sycamores to reach double figures scoring as Manny Arop tallied 12, Dawon Cummings scored 11, Odum had 11 and Khristian Smith added 10. Cummings paced the team with four steals while the team had seven. On the glass, Cummings posted eight rebounds. The Sycamores made their fifth consecutive trip to the postseason as well as their second appearance in a row in the National Invitation Tournament. Indiana State sees its season end with a 23-11 mark – the second most victories by a Sycamore team in 38 seasons of Missouri Valley Conference play. Arkansas led 37-31 at the half and scored the first five out of the break to take a 42-31 lead. Arop and Gant each hit field goals in the opening minutes of the second half to keep the Razorback lead in single digits. The Razorbacks stretched the lead out to 54-36 before a Cummings dunk at the 13:56 mark cut the Arkansas lead down to 16. The Sycamores made a stand after the next to last media timeout with a pair of Brandon Burnett free throws and then a 3-pointer from Odum with 6:15 remaining which got the Arkansas lead all the way down to 69-61. The Razorbacks answered with 14 of the next 17 points to take a 83-64 advantage as the clock ticked under three minutes remaining. Jake Odum hit a free throw to give the Sycamores a brief 1-0 lead before Arkansas rattled off seven points in a row for a 7-1 advantage. Justin Gant stepped out to hit a 3-pointer at the 14:29 mark to get within 7-4 but six points in a row staked the Razorbacks to a 13-4 advantage. Cummings would score seven in a row to make it 13-11. The Sycamores and Arkansas went back-and-forth for the remainder of the half until Cummings hit a pair of free throws at the 2:18 mark to knot the score at 29. Arkansas would score four in a row after the Sycamores tied it up but Khristian Smith stopped the bleeding with 51 seconds on the clock and Arkansas led 33-31. The Razorbacks scored the final four points of the half and held a 37-31 lead at the break. In the first half, Dawon Cummings led the Sycamores with nine points and six rebounds. Arkansas placed six players in double figures scoring, led by 28 points from Anthlon Bell.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:00:11 +0000