ST. LOUIS — Ryan Conwell dribbled the ball up the court as the first-half clock drained under 20 seconds. The roar of the crowd was at his back. His team led by nine in a game it was otherwise dominating. The half needed a finishing touch.

So, as the clock ticked under 10 seconds, the Indianapolis native took matters into his own hands. He exploded to the basket, charging into a double team before spinning back to create a foot of space, which was all he needed to swish through another basket.

This was how Conwell played for all of his 38 minutes on Saturday at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. When he wanted something, he went and got it, whether it was the 20 points or the game-high 13 rebounds as a shooting guard. He was the force that pushed Indiana State to a 94-72 throttling of Northern Iowa to advance to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament final against Drake on Sunday.

"He's just so skilled, he's so tough, he's so smart. He's such a great kid," ISU coach Josh Schertz said. "He's a dream to coach."

The Sycamores believe this was their best performance of the season, which says something for a team that is now 28-5. They drained 15 3-pointers on 29 attempts, turned in 22 assists to just eight turnovers, had four starters score at least 15 points and never led by less than eight points in the final three quarters of game time.

It was their best game of the season, and their best player on the court was Conwell.

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This is an Indiana kid having an Indiana moment. He's playing the sport he loves and his home state adores, now for his second school and the one that wanted him most all along. He's wearing a jersey once worn by Larry Bird, taking a team to heights it hasn't seen since the legend was the star for the Sycamores back in 1979, or more than two decades before Conwell arrived on the planet.

"I didn't know it was going to work out like this," Conwell said, "but I'm thankful."

In many ways, Conwell's story is the story of this Sycamores team, which is a win away from securing its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2011, when Conwell was in second grade.

Just two years ago, almost nobody at the Division I level believed in Conwell. He wasn't the tallest or the fastest guard, and he was buried in the recruiting rankings among Division II prospects.

But Schertz saw something and offered Conwell his first scholarship, and Conwell broke down crying.

"I had no idea about the Missouri Valley because I had never been in it before, but I'm 100% sure that kid isn't D-II. I was in D-II. I know," said Schertz, who coached 13 seasons at Lincoln-Memorial before arriving at Indiana State.

That faith helped inspire something in Conwell, and it also panted a seed. He blew up his senior season at Pike High School, averaging 22.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.0 steals a game to become the Marion County Player of the Year. Offers started pouring in from programs like Virginia Tech and Xavier, and he committed to South Florida.

Conwell started 21 games for the Bulls as a true freshman, but the season had nothing in common with the one that got him there. He averaged just 5.1 points per game as the Bulls went 14-18, and coach Brian Gregory was fired.

An Indiana kid was nearly 1,000 miles from home, figuring out his life.

"I didn't have anybody right there to run to if something went wrong," Conwell said. "I had to run it on my own."

When he entered the transfer portal, Schertz reached out immediately. He had a little more to offer than the last time around, after Indiana State improved from 11-20 his first season to 23-13 in his second.

And he had a promise this time.

"I said, 'You're not going to find a head coach that believes in you and what you can be more than me,'" Schertz said.

Conwell spent 18 days in the portal until he announced his commitment to Indiana State with a graphic that read, "Coming home."

And that's what this season has been for him. He's at home again. With his parents in the stands for nearly every game, plus other family traveling from Louisville, he's averaging 16.3 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 41% from 3-point territory and 87% from the free-throw line. Those numbers made him the MVC Newcomer of the Year.

He isn't the star who holds the national spotlight. That would be Robbie Avila, the goggled cult hero who draws comparisons to Nikola Jokic for his lumbering style, cerebral court vision, deep shot and next-level passing.

But Conwell is the star locally, known that way among his family, friends and even his teammates. He was mic'd up for a practice last summer, after he'd just arrived, when fellow starter Isaiah Swope leaned in and said, "This is Ryan's city, man. King of Indy."

He's gone from bashful to confident, all in the course of becoming a star for an in-state school that is doing things it hasn't done since Larry Bird was in his shoes.

There's a weight to all of it, of course. He of all people knows how temporary any situation can be, and not only is Indiana State living a single elimination life as a team this season, but the program can feel that way when the notoriety means bigger schools will come calling for Schertz and Avila this offseason.

So he's locking himself in this moment, seeing it all like he did on that score to end the first half.

He's living life 10 seconds at a time.

"It's been a blessing to be able to play in my home state," Conwell said. "It's just been a blessing to impact the team the way I can."

Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana State basketball in MVC final behind Ryan Conwell dream season