• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Gordon hurt in Indiana's win over Tennessee State

Dec 4, 2007 - 5:00 AM BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (Ticker) -- D.J. White and Indiana found a way to hold on without their sensational freshman.

White scored 29 points as the 15th-ranked Hoosiers overcame an injury to Eric Gordon to capture an 84-72 victory over pesky Tennessee State on Monday.

After rolling out to a 34-17 lead with just over six minutes left in the first half, Indiana (7-1) got a major scare when Gordon fell hard on his backside when he was hit attempting to make a pass in the lane.

The nation's second-leading scorer at 26.6 points, Gordon briefly remained in the contest before leaving with the Hoosiers leading 36-17.

The 6-4 freshman sat in discomfort on the bench for the final minutes of the half and did not return to the bench after intermission, staying in the locker room to get treatment.

"He'll be fine," Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said. "They took him for precautionary X-rays but he will be fine. Even if he could have gotten in the second half I wouldn't have brought him back."

Predictably, Indiana struggled without its top player, getting outscored by Tennessee State by a 55-48 margin after Gordon left the game.

The Tigers (2-4) cut their deficit to 11 points at the break, and were within 65-58 after a 3-pointer by Moraye Ivy with 7:27 remaining in the second half.

However, Lance Stemler responded with back-to-back shots from the arc and freshman Jamarcus Ellis converted two free throws for a 73-58 cushion with 5:01 left.

Armon Bassett hit a 3-pointer and D.J. White and Mike White both scored four points within the final four minutes for the Hoosiers, who improved to 20-0 at home under Sampson.

"Obviously we had to step up," White said. "Our playmaker, our leading scorer was hurt and coach had them keep going to me. If it was 1-on-1 I tried to make an aggressive move; if I was doubled I tried to kick it out. And when he went down we all knew we had to step up our play."

D.J. White, who had 13 points after Gordon left the contest, finished 11-of-16 from the field en route to a career high in points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

"We were going to D.J as much as we could," Sampson said. "I think D.J. had 34 touches tonight. Sometimes he may get the ball 30 times but only have seven shot attempts because they double him every time he touches it. I thought our kids did a good job getting the ball to him and even in the shots he missed, the five shots he missed were open looks."

"He was the difference," Tennessee State coach Cy Alexander said. "He had 29 points on us and we didn't do a very good job of defending him."

Ellis had 10 points, 10 assists and seven boards and Mike White scored 11 for Indiana, which dominated the boards, holding a 41-24 advantage which led to a 25-9 margin in second-chance points.

Bruce Price scored 34 points, including 14 in the second half, for Tennessee State, which had 27 points off of 19 turnovers by Indiana.