The Eagles took the lead 5-4 on a jumper by senior guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) at 17:52 of the opening half and never looked by before taking a 37-29 lead into the intermission. Stein would score 14 points in the opening half, hitting five of his first six shots, as the Eagles led for over 18 of the first 20 minutes.
USI led by as many as 10 points twice during the first stanza before settling for the eight-point, 37-29, advantage at the break. The Eagles shot 50 percent in the first half (15-30), 33.3 percent (3-9) from long range.
After scoring the last four points of the first half, the Eagles scored the first 10 points of the second half for a 14-0 run to take a commanding 47-29 lead with 16:44 left to play. USI was a blistering five-of-seven from the field during the 14-0 run and was led by sophomore forward Emmanuel Little (Indianapolis, Indiana), who scored have of the points in the run.
The Eagles continued to extend the margin to as many as 28 points, 68-40, on a three-point bomb by sophomore guard Mateo Rivera (Indianapolis, Indiana) with 7:49 to play. Quincy would shrink the USI lead to 18 points, 74-56, in the final minutes before the Eagles closed out the 78-56 victory.
As a team, USI shot 51.7 percent from the field (31-60), 36.8 percent from beyond the arc (7-19), and 50 percent from the stripe (9-18). The Eagles also won the battle on the glass with a 31-29 margin.
Individually, Stein led five players in double-digits with 19 points, adding eight in the final 20 minutes. Little followed with 15 points and completed his fourth double-double of the season with a team-high 10 rebounds.
Rivera, sophomore forward Josh Price (Indianapolis, Indiana), and senior guard/forward Nate Hansen (Evansville, Indiana) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points each in the victory.
USI travels to the far west part of the GLVC next week with a visit to Rockhurst University Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and William Jewell University Saturday at 3 p.m. Game coverage information for USI Men’s Basketball can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.
