Not much sweating so far in St. Louis for the Missouri Valley regular season champs. The league’s top seed has cruised in the second half in both games they’ve played so far to secure a spot in Sunday’s Championship Game. Josh Schertz’s team used hot starts to both halves to control the game and knock off Northern Iowa by a score of 94-72.

Indiana State fans have been itching for a season like this for a long time. The Sycamore fans showed up in St. Louis this weekend in full force and they got a treat on Saturday. Indiana State hit 15 threes, including five in the first five minutes (four from Robbie Avila).

“It doesn’t feel neutral out there,” Schertz said.

As it usually goes for Indiana State, everyone contributed and it was an extremely balanced effort offensively. Robbie Avila, Ryan Conwell and Isaiah Swope had 21, 20 and 17 respectively. Julian Larry once again was great on both ends, holding Bowen Born to 3-10 from the field and chipping in 17 points and seven assists. Larry is extremely effective getting into the lane and making plays and his confidence shooting the ball has gone up a ton this season.

“It’s not the coaching or the system [that makes Indiana State work], it’s the skills and the smarts [of the players],” said Schertz.  I tell people it’s the coaching, but it’s not.”

The top-seeded Sycamores will get their chance to clinch a spot in March Madness tomorrow at 1:00 P.M. CST against Drake. Even without a win, Indiana State will have a shot at an at-large bid.

“We better be in the tournament, win or lose [tomorrow],” Schertz said.