EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball overwhelmed Purdue University North Central, 102-67, Wednesday night at the Physical Activities Center. USI sees its record go to 10-2 overall, 7-1 at the PAC this season, while PNC falls to 10-7.
The victory marked the Screaming Eagles’ sixth-straight victory and their third 100-point game of the year. USI also finishes the non-conference portion of the schedule 8-2 against non-league opponents.
The Eagles started the game by flying out to a 23-7 lead by the 12:50 mark. PNC, however, was not about to let USI run away with the contest, posting a 22-9 run of its own to cut the Eagles’ advantage to 32-29 with 4:43 left on the clock until the half.
USI would push the lead back to double-digits, 41-31, in the final minutes before settling for the 42-33 intermission advantage. Junior guard Jeril Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky) and freshman guard Alex Stein(Evansville, Indiana) led the Eagle scorers with 13 points and 10 points, respectively, in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second half, USI wasted little time in gaining total command of the contest by extending the halftime advantage to 31 points, 74-43, at the midway point of the final stanza. The Eagles’ lead grew to as many as 42 points, 100-58, before settling for the 102-67 victory.
Taylor added 11 points in the second half and finished with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. The junior guard, who was nine-of-16 from the field, four-of-nine from beyond the arc, and a perfect two-of-two from the line, also had season-high six assists and six steals. He also has had four double-doubles through the first 12 games.
Stein followed Taylor in the scoring column with 19 points, while senior forward Shane Seniour(Newburgh, Indiana) added 13 points and followed Taylor on the glass with eight rebounds. Freshman forward Jacob Norman (Evansville, Indiana) and junior guard Bobo Drummond (Peoria, Illinois) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points and 10 points, respectively.
Drummond also added a career-high and game-high 10 assists and followed Taylor with three steals.
As a team, USI shot 56.7 percent (38-67), 67.6 percent in the second half (23-34), and won the battle of the boards, 48-27. The Eagles also grabbed a season-high 11 steals.
Great Lakes Valley Conference action resumes next week for the Eagles when they make the trip to western Missouri to visit Rockhurst University January 7 and William Jewell College January 9. USI is 2-0 in GLVC action after defeating McKendree University and the University of Illinois Springfield to start December.
The USI Varsity Club is inviting fans to watch the live video stream of the USI-Rockhurst women’s and men’s doubleheader in the Varsity Club Room January 7. The women’s game is 5:30 p.m., while the men’s game is slated to follow at 7:30 p.m.
