Indiana exits NCAA tournament after 19-turnover performance in 61-50 loss to Syracuse

WASHINGTON –  Nineteen turnovers. Sixteen baskets. A season-low 50 points.

Top-seed Indiana had no answer for the 2-3 zone of Syracuse, and now the Hoosiers are heading home after a 61-50 loss Thursday night bounced them from the NCAA tournament.

The Hoosiers (29-7) played against many strong defensive teams in Big Ten — none of which hounded them as well as Syracuse.

"Let's face facts. We haven't seen a zone like that," Indiana coach Tom Crean said. "They're very good. They're where they're at for a reason."

Syracuse (29-9) is in the round of eight because the Hoosiers made only seven field goals in the decisive first half, went 3 for 15 overall from beyond the arc and had 10 of their shots blocked.

Syracuse had 12 steals, which was more than enough to offset a 16-point performance by Indiana's Victor Oladipo.

"The story of the game for us is we didn't take care of the ball well enough," Crean said. "We gave them too many opportunities."

Indiana made a run in the second half, cutting what was once an 18-point deficit to 38-32 on a 3-pointer by Oladipo with 14:11 remaining. Syracuse's Michael Carter-Williams then sandwiched two layups around a pair of free throws by his teammate to boost the margin back to double digits, and the Hoosiers never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.

"We just could never get over the hump," Crean said. "We got it cut down but we could never get that gap, that margin, where we needed it to be."

Oladipo, who went 5 for 6, was the only Indiana player to make more than half his shots. Guard Jordan Hulls was 0 for 6, Will Sheehey 3 for 9 and forward Cody Zeller missed eight of 11 tries, many of which were swatted away.

It was a disappointing ending to an otherwise outstanding season. The Hoosiers finished No. 4 in the final AP Top 25 poll and held the top spot for 10 weeks. Indiana also won the Big Ten regular season title.

Those accomplishments meant nothing against a Syracuse team that got 24 points from Michael Carter-Williams and 14 from Brandon Triche.

"They played well and they deserve it. We didn't play as well but we played extremely hard," Crean said. "They move on and we call it a great year."

Oladipo said of the Orangemen, who will next face Marquette: "They were just long and active. We just didn't take care of the ball the way we should have."

Indiana forward Christian Watford had 13 points on 4-for-11 shooting along with a team-high five turnovers in his final college game.

"There have been ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for the world," he said. "I love my teammates and I'm happy to be an Indiana Hoosier."

The Hoosiers had more turnovers (12) than field goals (7) during a horrid first half in which they trailed by 18 points and needed a late surge to get to 34-22 at the break. It was the first time Indiana faced a halftime deficit of more than three points.

"In the first half we were a little bit too anxious, not having the ball secure in our hands, and our shots weren't falling at the same time," Oladipo said.

The cool-shooting Hoosiers had only five points with 10 minutes elapsed and were down 29-11 with 3:39 left before intermission.

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Indiana uses late surge to squeak by Temple

Dayton, OH –  Khalif Wyatt outdueled Victor Oladipo, but Indiana had the last laugh over the Temple Owls, using a late surge to post a 58-52 decision in third-round action of the East Region.

"It doesn't doanything for me, not right now at least," Wyatt said of putting together his finest performance on a national stage. "They're a really good team. They played really hard. We competed really hard. We battled. A couple plays here and there, we win. It was just a tough-battled game, and they came out on top."

Wyatt led all players with 31 points, but Oladipo hit a three-pointer with 15 seconds to play, the last of his team-high 16 points, to help his top-seeded program advance to the Sweet 16.

Cody Zeller totaled 15 points and six rebounds for the Hoosiers (29-6), who rolled past James Madison in their tourney opener and now face Syracuse in the regional semifinals on Thursday in Washington, DC.

"It's a great feeling," Oladipo said. "I'm just glad that we're going."

Will Sheehey added 10 points and Christian Watford totaled nine with eight boards in the narrow victory.

Anthony Lee poured in 10 points for the Owls (24-10), who got past NC State on Friday but were doomed by poor shooting down the stretch. Rahlir Hollis- Jefferson contributed eight points, seven rebounds in defeat.

"Certainly, I thanked them for all the time and effort they put in, putting up with my BS," Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said of his veteran leaders, including Wyatt. "They're great guys, and they will be successful people as they move forward. Now we have to say good-bye to them, and the cocoon has kind of burst here, their comfort level, and they're out there on their own."

Lee's bucket from right under the basket off a dish from Will Cummings made it 50-46 for Temple as four minutes remained in regulation, but that was the high point for the upset-hopeful Owls.

A Jordan Hulls bucket closed the gap to 52-50 with 2:56 to play, and after Watford stuffed Wyatt in the lane on the next Temple possession, Zeller sank two from the line for a 52-52 deadlock inside of two minutes left.

Wyatt fired away from long distance and missed, and Oladipo made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Hoosiers their first lead of the second half at 53-52 with 1:19 left.

Hollis-Jefferson's airball on a short jumper fell out of bounds and gave the ball back to Indiana, and Oladipo hit the dagger, a long triple from the top of the key to make it 56-52.

Wyatt again failed to find the hoop from beyond the arc, and Watford iced the game with his two free shots.

"I was just being aggressive. My teammates kept (getting the ball) to me, but the last six minutes they just made it really hard for me to catch the ball," Wyatt said of Indiana's late-game adjustments.

Temple missed seven of its first eight shots, but Indiana's poor shooting early kept the contest close in the opening minutes.

The Hoosiers gained separation on a 12-4 run for a 20-11 spread with just under nine minutes played thanks to a Watford jumper, but the Owls struck back with nine straight, evening the score on a Wyatt triple with 6:12 remaining.

Hollis-Jefferson ended the half with a bucket and Temple hit the break up 29-26.

Wyatt began the second half with a basket to give the Owls a five-point edge, and the nine-seed maintained that distance until back-to-back makes from Oladipo pulled the Hoosiers within 33-32 less than 5 1/2 minutes in.

Wyatt's runner from the baseline -- his first points since the initial shot of the half -- and a fadeaway jumper following a Zeller turnover provided a 41-35 edge for Temple just shy of the midway point.

But Hulls and Sheehey hit triples around a Lee bucket to draw the Hoosiers even, 43-43, with 6:49 on the clock, before Wyatt countered on the other end on the next trip down the floor.

"If they were in our league, they'd be fighting for a championship too," Indiana head coach Tom Crean said. "I don't think there's any doubt about that. They're that good."

Game Notes

Indiana trailed at the half for just the fifth time all season, running its record to 3-2 in such games ... Wyatt, who finished 12-of-24 from the field, made only 3-of-12 attempts from long range. He was 8-of-14 for 20 points in the first half alone and his 31 points were the most for any Temple player in the premier March tourney since Mark Macon had 31 in a 75-72 loss to North Carolina in an East Regional Final on March 25, 1991 ... The Owls fell to 0-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament when facing No. 1 seeds ... Hulls, who played just eight minutes in the first half thanks to a a shoulder injury, set a new school record by appearing in his 134th game with the Hoosiers ... Zeller committed a game-high six of Indiana's 12 turnovers ... Scootie Randall had just three points in 38 minutes, but pulled down a game-high nine rebounds for the Owls.

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2 dead, several injured after private plane crashes into Indiana homes

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  March 17, 2013: The front end of a Hawker Beachcraft Premier jet sits in a room of a home on Iowa Street in South Bend, Ind.AP/South Bend Tribune

SOUTH BEND, Ind. –  A private jet apparently experiencing mechanical trouble crashed Sunday in a northern Indiana neighborhood, hitting three homes and killing two people aboard the plane, authorities and witnesses said.

The Beechcraft Premier I twin-jet had left Tulsa, Okla.'s Riverside Airport and crashed near South Bend Regional Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig in Oklahoma City said. Two of four people aboard the plane were killed, Herwig said.

It was not clear if anyone on the ground was killed, and Herwig did not have any additional information.

South Bend Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Maggie Scroope said three people injured when the plane crashed were being treated there; one was in serious condition and two were in fair condition. Scoope did not know if they were on the plane or the ground.

The plane was registered to 7700 Enterprises of Montana LLC in Helena, Mont. The company is owned by Wes Caves and does business as DigiCut Systems in Tulsa, Okla. It makes window film and paint overlay for automobiles.

A woman identifying herself as Caves' wife answered the phone at their home Sunday and said, "I think he's dead," before hanging up.

In South Bend, Assistant Fire Chief John Corthier said the presence of jet fuel from the aircraft made the situation "very dangerous," Corthier said. The plane was lodged inside a house.

"It's still a rescue operation," Corthier said about three hours after the crash. Referring to one of the damaged houses, he said, "Because of the collapse in the house it's a very dangerous situation. We have to shore up the house before we can enter the house. "

Part of the neighborhood southwest of the airport was evacuated. Buses transported up to 200 people to a nearby shelter, Red Cross volunteer Jackie Lincoln said.

Mike Daigle, executive director of the St. Joseph County Airport Authority, said the jet attempted a landing, went back up and maneuvered south to try another landing, but eight minutes later the airport learned the plane was no longer airborne.

"There was an indication of a mechanical problem," Herwig said.

Stan Klaybor, who lives across the street from the crash scene, said the jet clipped the top of one house, heavily damaged a second, and finally came to rest against a third. Neighbors did not know if a woman living in the most heavily damaged house was home at the time, and a young boy in the third house did not appear to be seriously injured, Klaybor said.

"Her little boy was in the kitchen and he got nicked here," Klaybor said, pointing to his forehead.

His wife, Mary Jane, regularly watches planes approach the airport.

"I was looking out my picture window. The plane's coming, and I go, 'Wait a minute,' and then, boom," she said.

"This one was coming straight at my house. I went, 'Huh?' and then there was a big crash, and all the insulation went flying," she said.

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Indiana mom accused of selling daughter to 39-year-old man for child pornography

Two northwestern Indiana residents are facing federal charges involving the alleged sale of a young child for use in producing child pornography.

Prosecutors say a Gary woman sold her 1 1/2-year-old daughter to 39-year-old Christopher M. Bour so he could use the child for porn. The Times of Munster reports the two Gary residents were indicted Wednesday.

Bour faces charges of buying a child to produce child pornography, producing child pornography and possessing child pornography featuring a minor younger than 12.

The child's mother is charged with selling her daughter for the production of child pornography and permitting the child to participate in its production. She's accused of selling and transferring custody and control of her child knowing the toddler would "engage in sexually explicit conduct."

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