Sycamores stomp Purdue behind Stinson's career high 24 points, 89-70

TERRE HAUTE, IN (12-28-2006) - The Indiana State University Sycamores took the early lead and never looked back, defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 89-70 in the Hulman Civic Center Thursday night.  It was the first time ISU has defeated Purdue on the home court since 1977 and their first win over Purdue since 1978.

Marico Stinson was 4-of-7 from three point range and finished with a career high 24 points to lead Indiana State.  Adam Arnold came off the bench to score 13 points and pull down eight rebounds while Gabe Moore had 18 points, including 10-of-12 at the free throw line and is now 10th on the all time steal list with 103 in his career.  He had two against Purdue to move past Jim Cruse.

“If we have any chance to win games in the Missouri Valley Conference we can’t lose any possessions,” head coach Royce Waltman said.  “We did a pretty good job of that tonight.  We played well tonight.  We got on top and ended up with a sizable margin of victory.  Everyone who came into the game knew what they were supposed to do.  What we did at the start was handle the basketball well.  What led to our decisive run in the first half was our ability to come down and handle the basketball.”

Cole Holmstrom hit a three pointer from the left corner 52 seconds into the contest and the Sycamores never trailed after that.  Purdue was able to tie the game three times before Indiana State went on a 10-0 run to lead 21-11 with 9:39 left.  Purdue tied the game at 30 with 3:33 left, but ISU then closed out the first half with a 16-1 run to grab a 46-31 lead at the intermission.

Purdue kept cutting into the ISU lead in the second half with ISU leading 66-56 with 8:31 left.  Two buckets by Stinson and one from Arnold put ISU back up by 16 and the Sycamores were never threatened after that.  Gabriel Moore was 6-of-6 at the free throw line in the final 2:30 of the game and Adam Lottino made a pair as the Sycamores pulled away.

Trent Wurtz had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists for ISU.  Carl Landry led Purdue with 22 points.

Indiana State remained undefeated at home while improving their season record to 7-4.  The Sycamores will open Missouri Valley Conference play on Saturday when they host Drake starting at 7:05 pm. in Hulman Center. Purdue falls to 10-3 overall and will host Southeast Missouri State on Saturday.

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