University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball team battled NCAA Division I 15th-ranked Purdue University, but lost an 85-63 decision Tuesday evening in West Lafayette, Indiana. USI starts the 2016-17 regular season November 12-13 when it plays in the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge in Indianapolis, Indiana, and hosted by the University of Indianapolis.
The GLVC/GLIAC Challenge features the Screaming Eagles against Lake Erie College November 12 at noon (CST) and Ashland University November 13 at 1:15 p.m. (CST).
USI started the exhibition game with a bang, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Purdue, however, responded with a 12-0 run to take command of the game and building a 24-point lead, 42-18. The Eagles seemed to wake up in the last three minutes of the half, going on a 13-5 run to cut the deficit to 47-31at the intermission.
Eagles’ senior guard Bobo Drummond (Peoria, Illinois) led the team in the opening half with 11 points, scoring nine points during USI’s 13-5 run to end the half.
In the second half, USI came out of the locker room just as hot as it ended the opening half and cut the deficit to 10 points, 50-40, with 16:12 to play. This would be as close as the Eagles would get the rest of the way before falling 85-63.
Drummond would add six points in the second half and finish with a team-high 17 points, while senior guard Jeril Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky) followed with 16 points. Junior forward DayJar Dickson (Washington, D.C.) paced the Eagles on the glass with nine rebounds.
USI, as a team, won the battle of the boards, 37-34, while shooting 42.9 percent from the field (24-56) and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc (5-16). The Eagles hit 52.6 percent from the charity stripe (10-19) in the first game of the year.
The USI-Purdue exhibition replay can be seen Wednesday at noon (CST) on the Big Ten Network.
