University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball closed out the final game in the Physical Activities Center in dramatic fashion as senior guard Alex Stein(Evansville, Indiana) hit a bucket with 2.0 ticks on the clock to defeat the University of Indianapolis, 67-65, Saturday afternoon. The Screaming Eagles rise to 19-7 overall and 11-5 in the GLVC, while the Greyhounds go to 18-8, 10-6 GLVC.
With a six point lead, 65-59, with 2:39 to play, UIndy rallied to tie the contest, 65-65, with 9.5 second and set the stage for Stein to hit the final bucket in PAC. Stein took the inbound pass from sophomore forward Josh Price (Indianapolis, Indiana), drove inside the arc, and hit the game-winner from 15-feet.
Stein finished with a game-high 26 points and was the only Eagle to reach double-figures. He was nine-of-16 from the field, three-of-seven from downtown, and five-of-five stripe.
USI came out firing in the first 10 minutes of the game and built a 13-point advantage when junior guard/forward Kobe Caldwell (Bowling Green, Kentucky) hit a bomb from downtown to make the score 28-15 with 11:27 left in the first stanza. The Eagles hit 11-of-15 to start the game with Stein getting 12 of the first 28 points.
The Greyhounds rebounded after a slow start and closed the gap to one, 37-36, with 1:51 on the clock before the Eagles closed out the half with a 41-36 advantage. Stein finished the first half with 18 points to lead the Eagles.
The second half saw the battle between the Eagles and the Greyhounds intensify with two ties and two lead changes and USI was never able to build a lead of more than six points twice (56-50 and 65-59) as the clock counted down to a spectacular finish.
Prior to the game, USI honored its final senior class in the PAC – Stein, guard/forward Nate Hansen (Evansville, Indiana), and forward Jacob Norman (Evansville, Indiana) – and honored the very first team to play in the PAC during the second half. Norman had six points and nine rebounds while Hansen dropped in three points and made two assists on Senior Day.
The Eagles conclude the 2018-19 regular season next week on the road when they visit the University of Illinois Springfield Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and McKendree University Saturday at 3 p.m. USI defeated Illinois Springfield, 100-72, and McKendree, 100-95, at the PAC earlier this month.
