Boxscore
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Evansville's freshmen almost pulled out a victory here Sunday afternoon for the Purple Aces, but it was an Indiana State senior who prevailed. Guard Harry Marshall scored 21 points to bring his Sycamores back from an eight-point second half deficit and give ISU the 63-56 win at Roberts Stadium.
The victory improved the Sycamores to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Evansville is now 6-15 and 0-11.
Freshman Colt Ryan put in a team-high 14 points for the Aces while adding five rebounds. Classmate Troy Taylor added five points, four rebounds and three steals that he turned into six Evansville points, and sophomore Denver Holmes collected 12 points. But it was the more veteran Indiana State team that outlasted the Aces, coming back from a 44-36 deficit to outscore Evansville 27-12 in the final 12 minutes. UE was held without a field goal from the 12:43 mark until just 32 seconds remained in the game, and by that time Indiana State had built a 58-50 lead.
Marshall scored six straight points for Indiana State in the final minute to seal the win. His free throw put ISU up 56-50 with 51 seconds to go, and after Indiana State made another stop at the defensive end, Marshall was fouled and connected on two free throws to make it a 58-50 game with 36 seconds remaining. Freshman Ned Cox kept Evansville alive when he finally broke the field goal drought with 32 seconds to play, but two more free throws from Marshall put the Sycamores up by eight again at 60-52 with 30 seconds left. Cox hit again with 18 seconds to go, but Rashad Reed hit two free throws three seconds later to put the Sycamores up 62-54 and assure the victory.
Marshall hit seven of 10 shots and all six free throws, and also made four assists and two steals. Forward Carl Richard added 12 points, and the Sycamores got 20 points from their bench, including six each from Aaron Carter, Isiah Martin and Josh Crawford, who also blocked seven shots. The Sycamores hit 22 of 55 shots for 40 percent accuracy while Evansville hit 19 of 50 for 38 percent.
