FARGO, N.D.--Johnny Towalid returned two interceptions for
touchdowns and Indiana State beat North Dakota State 17-14 before a crowd of 18,164 at Gate City Bank Field, ending the
Bison 10-game winning streak.
Towalid picked off a pass by Brock Jensen and went 27 yards for a
score in the second quarter to give Indiana State a 10-3 lead. He did it
again early in the fourth quarter, scoring from 31 yards to make it
17-6 Sycamores.
Jensen scored on a 1-yard run with 9:56 to play and also made the
2-point conversion to get NDSU (5-1, 2-1) within three points. Jensen's third
interception, by Larry King, ended the Bison's best shot after that with 3:42 left to play.
Jensen completed 16 of 31 passes for 171 yards. He had attempted 140 passes without and interception since the second quarter against Sam Houston State in the NCAA FCS national championship game in January 2012. Jensen holds the school record at 142 attempts without an interception set last season.
Shakir Bell ran for 96 yards for the Sycamores (5-2, 3-1 Missouri
Valley), who have won three straight conference road games for the first
time in their 27 years in the MVC.
Grant Olson led the Bison defense with a career and game-high 15 tackles. It was the third double-figure tackle game for Olson. Andre Martin had four passes defended, one off the school record of five.
North Dakota State outgained the Sycamores 294-197. Indiana State converted only 1 of 10 third down attempts, but punter Lucas Hileman kept the Bison bottled up averaging 43.4 yards per kick and two inside the 20.
Adam Keller made field goals of 20 and 33 yards for the Bison, while Tanner Fritschle connected on a 48-yard field goal for the Sycamores.
Indiana State's defense was led by the 12 tackles from Aaron Archie and 10 from Conner Underwood.