EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball opened the 2015-16 Great Lakes Valley Conference campaign with an 89-61 victory over McKendree University Thursday night at the Physical Activities Center. USI goes to 5-2 overall and 1-0 to open GLVC play, while McKendree sees its record go to 4-1 in 2015-16, 0-1 GLVC.
The Screaming Eagles, who are 4-1 during the six-game homestand, have won 24-straight GLVC openers since 1992.
In the first half, USI scored seven of the first nine points and controlled the first 20 minutes of the contest. The Eagles posted their first double-digit lead, 21-11, with 8:50 left in the half and extended the lead to as many as 17 points, 38-21, at the 2:19 mark. The Bearcats would scratch their way back to a 10-point deficit before the Eagles took a 40-28 lead into the intermission.
A key to USI’s first half run was its defense that held McKendree to 36 percent from the field (9-25) and outrebounded the Bearcats, 22-16.
The Eagles put on the jets in the second half and quickly put the contest out of reach. Led by junior guard Travis Britt’s (Rantoul, Illinois) 12-point second half performance, USI methodically extended the halftime advantage to a game-high 29 points, 89-60, in the final minute before the final buzzer rang on the 89-61 victory.
Individually, Britt would lead five USI players in double-figures with a career-high 15 points. He was five-of-eight from the field, four-of-six from beyond the arc, and a perfect one-of-one from the charity stripe.
Senior forward George Edwards (Chicago, Illinois) and junior guard Bobo Drummond (Peoria, Illinois) followed Britt in the scoring column with 13 points each, while senior forward Shane Seniour (Newburgh, Indiana) and junior forward T.J. Tisdell (Cape Girardeau, Missouri) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points and 10 points, respectively. Drummond also had a game-high and career-high seven assists.
As a team, USI shot 50 percent from the field for the first time in three games, hitting 34-of-68, and won the battle on the glass, 43-26.
USI concludes the homestand and the first weekend of GLVC play against the University of Illinois Springfield Saturday at 3:15 p.m. The Prairie Stars lost their GLVC opener, 72-62, to 24th-ranked Bellarmine this evening in Louisville, Kentucky, and saw their record go to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in the league.
The Eagles lead the all-time series with Illinois Springfield, 7-2, after defeating the Prairie Stars, 67-54, on the road in 2014-15. The Eagles are 5-1 versus the Stars at the PAC since 2000 and have won last two meetings at home.
