HONOLULU — In a game of ups and downs, the Indiana State University men’s basketball team finished on a strong note.
Manny Arop scored a game-high 27 points and Indiana State beat th University of Mississippi 87-85 in overtime Saturday in a quarterfinal game of the Diamond Head Classic. Indiana State advances to meet the winner of No. 18 San Diego State and San Francisco in today’s semifinals.
The Sycamores (6-3) fell behind early, rallied back to lead by as many as 11 points, only to allow Ole Miss to come back and force overtime. The Rebels’ Derrick Millinghaus made a 3-pointer with 1 minute, 3 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 75.
“We were tough, we were grinding it out on offense and grinding it out on defense and that’s what we had to do the whole game,” said Jake Odum, who had 16 points, eight rebounds, and four assists for Indiana State. “We simplified some things in overtime and didn’t necessarily run some certain set plays to get into a free flow motion, but we grinded on them and were patient in overtime.”
Jarvis Summers made two free throws 15 seconds into overtime to give Ole Miss its first lead since it led 27-25 with about eight minutes left in the first half. But Indiana State went on a 10-2 run to reclaim the lead at 85-79 and withstood a late charge by Ole Miss (8-2), which will play in today’s consolation round.
“It’s a five-minute game. We do those in practice,” Odum said of overtime. “We wanted to get out early on them, get a little lead and do what we wanted to do on offense and defense.”
After a free throw by Summers, Marshall Henderson, who led the Rebels with 27 points, drained a long 3-pointer from about 28 feet to cut the Sycamores’ lead to 85-83 with 16.8 seconds remaining.
Odum made two free throws with 11.1 seconds to play to make it a four-point lead for Indiana State. Henderson missed a long 3 on the Rebels’ next possession, but Reginald Buckner grabbed the loose ball and scored to close it to 87-85.
Ole Miss had a chance to tie it or win after the Sycamores turned it over in the closing seconds, but Summers’ desperation heave from near midcourt was no good.
Justin Gant, who played 41 minutes, had 12 points and 11 rebounds. R.J. Mahurin added 12 points and Dawon Cummings scored 10 for Indiana State.
“Coach said we just had to play, dig in, focus, stick to our defensive plan and keep executing and get good shots,” Arop said. “Guard them, take away shots from Henderson. He’s a great player. They’re a great team and they do such a great job on the glass. We battled and they (ISU post players) held their own on the glass.”
Buckner finished with 17 points with 10 rebounds and Murphy Holloway added 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Ole Miss built a 24-14 lead near the midway point of the first half off an 18-footer by Nick Williams, but Indiana State used a 23-3 run to pull ahead, 37-27, with 2:46 remaining in the first half. The Rebels went scoreless for a stretch of 6:21.
Indiana State, which made 5 of 9 on 3-pointers in the first half, finished 9 of 20 from behind the arc for the game. The Sycamores made 18 of 24 free throws, while the Rebels got to the line just 13 times and made seven.
Arop, a junior forward, was 9 of 15 from the field, including 4 of 5 on 3-pointers and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. He had 16 points by halftime.
Henderson, who entered the game averaging 17.8 points, made 10 of his 23 field goals, including 7 of 16 3-pointers. He scored 16 of his points after halftime for the Rebels, who rallied from as many as 11 downs.
“We missed some assignments and they still scored a lot,” Sycamores coach Greg Lansing said of Ole Miss. “That’s a very good offensive team, a lot of good weapons. We just tried to make them score in a fashion they’re not usually scoring.”
The Rebels scored 24 points off 13 Indiana State turnovers and got 29 second-chance points to the Sycamores’ 15. There were 11 ties and six lead changes in the game.
Indiana State led 44-33 at halftime.
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