University of Southern Indiana senior forward Julius Rajala (Helsinki, Finland) scored a season-high 24 points and rallied the Screaming Eagles to a 73-67 victory over the University of Indianapolis Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis, Indiana. USI watched its record to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the GLVC with its first victory at Nicoson Hall since 2012-13, while UIndy, which received votes for the top 25 polls last week, goes to 5-2 overall, 1-1 GLVC.
The Eagles and the Greyhounds battled to a 10-10 tie through the first eight minutes before UIndy methodically built a 10-point lead, 30-20, with just under four minutes left in the half. Rajala ignited the Eagles as they battled back in the final minutes of the first half, scoring six of his 10 first half points to lead an 11-2 run that got USI to within one at the intermission, 32-31.
Rajala continued the Eagles’ run into the second half, extending it to 13-2, with the first bucket after halftime that got USI its first lead since the opening minutes of the first half, 33-32. The senior forward would score eight of USI’s first 11 points of the second half as the Eagles and Greyhounds traded buckets through the first five minutes of the final half.
After finding themselves down four points, 46-42, Rajala propelled the Eagles on another run as USI exploded on a 20-2 offensive sprint to lead by 14 points, 62-48, with 6:10 to play. Rajala added another six points during the run, while junior guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) and freshman forward Emmanuel Little (Indianapolis, Indiana) dropped in four points each.
The Greyhounds, however, were not ready to concede the win to the Eagles, going on a 17-6 spurt to pull to within three points, 68-65, with 27 seconds to play. USI, which scored its last 11 points from the free throw line, sealed the game in the final seconds on a pair of free throws by Stein and three of four from junior forward Jacob Norman (Evansville, Indiana) to close out the 73-67 victory.
Individually for USI, Rajala scored his season-best and game-high 24 points by hitting a blistering 12-of-15 from the field. Stein followed with 13 points, while senior guard Marcellous Washington (Lexington, Kentucky) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points.
The Eagles will be idle for the next 14 days before returning to the friendly surroundings of the Physical Activities Center to play Urbana University December 15 at 7 p.m. USI has a 5-0 all-time series lead versus Urbana, 4-0 at the PAC.
