Published: February 20, 2008 11:15 pm         

Anatomy of a miracle: Sycamores’ comeback Tuesday against Shockers was no easy task

TERRE HAUTE — It will never be counted in the record books, nor should it, but here’s one way to put Indiana State’s double comeback 83-73 overtime victory over Wichita State on Tuesday into dizzying perspective.

If you combine ISU’s separate 21-point and 10-point deficits it overcame in the second half against the Shockers at Hulman Center, it would equal the greatest comeback in NCAA history. Duke crawled out of a 31-point hole against Tulane in 1950 and Kentucky wiped out a 31-point deficit against LSU in 1994.

In both cases, Duke (halftime) and Kentucky (15:30 to go) had more time on the clock than the Sycamores did, and neither had to pull off the kind of dual comeback the Sycamores somehow managed to accomplish against the Shockers.

A day later, the enormity of it hadn’t worn off.

“I’ve been just kind of wired from it. I was one of those electric-style games, it was just special the way it went down,” ISU coach Kevin McKenna said on Wednesday, a day off for the Sycamores. “I woke up at 4:30 a.m., I was so excited, I never went back to sleep. I’ve been running on about three hours of sleep all day.”

How did the Sycamores do it? Here’s how it went down.

How did ISU fall so far behind?

Forgotten in the wake of the bizarre second half was that ISU led for much of the first half, with a 20-13 advantage with 7:09 to go before halftime.

Wichita State did two things to surge past ISU. The Shockers outrebounded the Sycamores and began to create second- and even third-chance field goal attempts, and they put on a press late in the half that completely discombobulated the Sycamores.

The rebounding was the catalyst. On two of three possessions after ISU had its seven-point advantage, Wichita State’s Aaron Ellis scored on a third-chance opportunity to draw the Shockers back to 20-18. A Matt Braeuer 3-pointer put Wichita State up 21-20 one possession later.

Wichita State’s press put ISU back on its heels with a forgettable final four minutes of the half. ISU committed four turnovers and missed its final four shots of the half as the Shockers surged to a 30-23 halftime lead.

The momentum carried over for the Shockers in the second half as they scored on six of their first 10 possessions. Meanwhile, ISU couldn’t hit the side of a barn. Open looks weren’t falling as ISU started the second 1 of 8 from the field. A Ramon Clemente three-point play at 13:42 put Wichita State up 48-27.

“I guess we thought the game was over,” Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said.

The 21-0 run

The first domino for ISU fell before the run began. McKenna inserted Isiah Martin, Cole Holmstrom and Aaron Carter into the game at the 15:17 mark to join Gabe Moore and Todd McCoy on the floor. Some of ISU’s usual contributors sat either because of foul trouble, ineffectiveness, or in the case of Harry Marshall, because he had the flu.

The combination would not leave the floor until ISU had tied the game.

The run started harmlessly enough — Martin converted a baby hook shot at 13:09 to start things. It was ISU’s second bucket that set the tone. ISU forced a Phillip Thomasson turnover off of its press and Moore hit a turnaround jumper at 12:58 to make it 48-31. ISU would go on to force five turnovers during the rally, nearly all a result of its full-court press.

“They’re not known as a pressing team. They press some, but they don’t press nearly as much as Creighton. We haven’t seen the press. We threw the ball away, we were soft with it, we missed free throws, you name it,” Gregg Marshall said. “We looked like we had never seen pressure. We had fear in our eyes.”

Still, any comeback hope seemed ridiculously far-fetched. Moore was called for an offensive foul and Wichita State successfully broke the press on its ensuing possession, with Shocker standout P.J. Couisnard getting behind the press for an open path to the basket.

Couisnard proceeded to put what was to be a dunk into the side of the rim. ISU rebounded and Carter made a 3-pointer at 12:16 to make it 48-34. The Hulman Center crowd awoke and ISU’s bench went from forlorn to geeked up.

From there, ISU would miss only one shot until the game was tied. Moore hit a runner at 11:54 and followed with a three at 11:19. Holmstrom followed a Moore miss with his first 3-pointer since Feb. 9 to make it 48-42. Holmstrom had five assists on Tuesday, equaling his total in the previous eight games combined and representing almost a third of his season total of 16.

“Cole hits his one shot, but five assists to go with it. He just played good basketball,” McKenna said Tuesday.

McCoy followed with a 3-pointer at 9:37 to draw ISU within a possession. Referee Mike Sanzere checked to make sure his foot wasn’t on the line — ironic — given that McCoy’s foot clearly appeared to be over the line on the game-tying 3-pointer 44 seconds later.

McCoy went on to shoot 3-of-4 from 3-point range, a career-high for the senior.

“I have to give Todd McCoy a lot of credit for being vocal and telling our guys not to quit. Not only that, but he hit some shots too,” McKenna said.

Twenty-one points were erased by ISU — and only 4 minutes, 50 seconds of game time had elapsed.

“Have you ever seen one go that quickly? I don’t think I have, not that quick,” Gregg Marshall said.

McKenna wasn’t any less shocked.

“The thing about it was, the 21-point lead went away so quickly. On the bench, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re back within a couple of possessions. It seemed like it was only a few seconds later when he said, ‘Oh my gosh, we tied it.’ It was just crazy,” McKenna said on Wednesday.

Shockers strike back

ISU almost lived down to the cliché that they scored/came back too fast and ISU’s Moore-Martin-McCoy-Carter-Holmstrom had to come out to rest. Wichita State settled itself down and went inside. Clemente made a layup to break ISU’s 21-0 run and Couisnard converted a pair of free throws to make it 52-48.

All of the sudden, ISU went stone cold. The Sycamores were 0-for-5 and had two turnovers in the next 7:50 of game time as the Shockers worked the shot clock down to minimize possessions and made most of its shots at the end of the possessions to maximize the time. A Couisnard free throw put the Shockers up 62-52 with 2:32 to go. The Shockers had a nine-point lead after another Couisnard free throw with 1:22 left.

“I think sometimes it happens when you catch up like that, you say to yourself, ‘We’re back in it.’ Then you take a deep breath and let down,” McKenna said.

Couisnard’s free throw miss on the back end of a one-and-one at 1:22 was a harbinger of things to come for the Shockers.

Do it again

As it was earlier in the half, ISU’s second comeback began harmlessly with a pair of Moore free throws to make it 63-56. Then fate turned ISU’s way again. Moore stole the ball from Wichita State guard Gal Mekel and Carter putback a McCoy 3-point miss to make it 63-58 with 58 seconds to go.

Then, Wichita State — who had lost its last two games in overtime and had lost six games decided by three points throughout the season — began to fall apart again.

Freshman J.T. Durley, a 66 percent free throw shooter entering the game, made just one of two with 51 seconds left to make it 64-58. ISU took advantage as Jay Tunnell converted a three-point play on a Durley foul to cut ISU’s deficit to one possession at 64-61.

At 66-63, Durley missed both ends of the double bonus. Carter drove baseline and converted a difficult reverse lay-up with 12 seconds left to make it 66-65 with 12 seconds left.

Wichita State wanted the ball in the hands of Gal Mekel, who hadn’t missed a free throw since Jan. 29, and he got it with 10.3 left. An 87.8 percent free throw shooter, his missed the front end of the double bonus.

Mekel hit the second shot, but the damage was done. ISU could now make a two-point bucket to tie it instead of having to rely on a 3-pointer. Carter, a freshman, made the biggest shot of his career, leaning towards the hoop to convert a lay-up with 4 seconds to go.

Overtime

By overtime, the Hulman Center crowd of 3,759 was beside itself and the ISU bench was as energetic as it had been lethargic during Wichita State’s early second half rally. As ISU prepared for overtime, a Sporting News photographer buzzed around them, shooting pictures for a future feature story.

Defense set the tone as Martin — whose three blocked shots gave him 51 for the season, the second-highest season total in ISU history — planted a Thomasson would-be lay-up into the hardwood to elicit another roar. Carter made a pair of free throws on the other end to make it 69-67.

The key stretch came around the two-minute mark. Up 71-69, ISU worked the shot clock down to its death and found McCoy at the top of the key. He buried a 3-pointer with 2:18 left to make it 74-69. The Shockers cut it to 74-71, but Moore provided the dagger. Tunnell missed a 3-pointer, but the long rebound rolled out to Moore, who stepped behind the free throw line and attempted a fadeaway three over a defender. The rainbow never touched the rim on its way into the cylinder to make it 77-71 and the game was effectively over. ISU clinched it by making 6-of-6 at the line to finish the game, Moore tallying four of them to reach his season-high of 29 points.

Gregg Marshall, who has seen this scenario play out in less dramatic fashion for his 10-17 Shockers, barely concealed his disgust with his own team.

“It happens to us all the time. Every time they took a shot, after a deflection, or a bobble, or if they took a shot with two seconds left in the shot clock, I know it’s going in. That’s just the way it is. There’s something about this team, it’s very frustrating. Just a couple more weeks …” said Marshall, referring to the end of the season in early March.

McKenna gave his players the credit, but knew the Sycamores also tapped into a perfect storm of great breaks to win their third in a row and to improve to .500 overall (13-13) and in the Valley (8-8).

“Pretty much everything had to go right, and being down nine with 1:22 to go isn’t real promising, but our guys hung in there,” McKenna said. “This is right up there with all of the [comebacks] I’ve ever been associated with. I’m proud of the guys.”