BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP)—Lance Stemler scored 18 points and Earl Calloway added 13 Friday night as the Hoosiers avoided a late upset bid by Indiana State to escape with a 73-66 victory.
Indiana (2-1) won for the only the third time in six games against the Sycamores. The 22nd consecutive opening home victory was the first win at Assembly Hall for new Hoosiers coach Kelvin Sampson.
The Sycamores (1-1) were led by Jay Tunnell with 16 points.
This one came almost straight out of Sampson’s playbook. The Hoosiers smothered Indiana State’s shooters most of the night, forced mistakes constantly and stayed out of the foul trouble that plagued them in two earlier games this week.
But Indiana again committed too many turnovers, D.J. White, its top player, struggled on 4-of-12 shooting to score 12 points, and the Hoosiers couldn’t put away the Sycamores after building a 20-point second-half lead.
But unlike Tuesday night’s loss to Butler, Indiana righted itself in time.
Indiana State nearly erased the lead with a 21-3 run to close to 56-54 with 6:20 left, and from that point, it was a scramble.
Indiana State had a chance to take the lead with 3:52 left, but Cole Holmstrom’s 3-pointer was way off the mark. Holmstrom had a chance to tie it with another 3-point attempt a few possessions later, but he missed again, and Stemler sealed the win with a 3-pointer with 24.4 seconds left that made it 71-66.
