Men's Basketball Rallies Past Indiana State
11/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
Box Score
EAST LANSING, Mich. – DePaul rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to beat Indiana State 78-66 in the opening round of the Spartan Coca-Cola Classic on Saturday at the Breslin Center.
Quemont Greer led the Blue Demons (3-0) with 18 points and eight rebounds while Andre Brown added his fourth consecutive double-double with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Delonte Holland, despite foul trouble, pumped in 16.
Freshman Sammy Mejia scored all 11 of his points in the game’s final 8:45 to key the comeback and move the Blue Demons to 3-0 for the second consecutive season.
The Sycamores (1-1) opened the second half with an 8-0 run to mount a six-point lead with 18:15 to play and increased their lead to 10 at 43-33 with 16:10 left.
The Blue Demons then went to work chipping away at the lead until Mejia drilled his first three-point field goal of the season to tie the game with 8:45 left to tie the game. In fact, Mejia scored eight of DePaul’s next 10 to move the advantage to four at 65-61. LeVar Seals banged home a three-pointer and DePaul cruised from there.
The Blue Demons played a sluggish first half and trailed by as much as seven on two occasions but rallied with an 11-2 run in the 6:32 to take a 31-29 halftime advantage.
DePaul will take on fourth-ranked Michigan State in the championship game of the Coca-Cola Classic tomorrow at 3 p.m. (CST). The game will be broadcasts via the radio in Chicago on WCKG (105.9 FM). There will be no live television of the contest.
Notes
DePaul is 3-0 for the second consecutive season under Dave Leitao and a perfect 4-0 in November… Brown has had four consecutive double-doubles dating back to last season… the victory was the largest second-half comeback in the brief Dave Leitao era at DePaul… the Blue Demons continue to dominate the boards, out rebounding Indiana State 40-29.
Quotes
“I was proud of the way our guys wore Indiana State down. We really stuck to our game plan and played with some energy later in the game.”
“We have been trying to get Sammy (Mejia) to look for his shot more. As a freshman he seemed to be more concerned with making sure the team was functioning and we were happy with his production in that area. He’s a good shooter and can score when he has to.”
Quemont Greer
“We just kept playing hard. In the second half I just got the ball on some isolation plays and was able to score.”
Sammy Mejia
“The shots were there so I just took them. After I hit the first one it felt really good so I started to look for them a little more. I am happy to do whatever it takes to help this team win.”