Game Recap: Men’s Basketball |Â Â | Ray Simmons, USI Athletic Communications
Eagles Battle To The End, But Fall 81-71
(Stein becomes USI all-time leading scorer in the loss)
BOX SCORE (HTML)Â |Â PHOTO GALLERYÂ |Â STEIN BECOMES THE ALL-TIME LEADERÂ
EVANSVILLE, Ind. –University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball saw its season end with an 81-71 loss in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight to Point Loma Nazarene University Thursday evening at the Ford Center. The Screaming Eagles, the seventh seed, ends the season with a 26-9 record, while the Sea Lions, the sixth seed, advanced to the NCAA II national championship game with a 31-4 mark.
The Eagles spotted the Sea Lions a 10-0 lead to start and fell behind by as many as 14 points, 28-14, with 6:36 left in the opening half, USI started slow, missing its first seven shots and hitting only four-of-15 from the field for the first 14 minutes.
The first half turned around for the Eagles offensively in the final six minutes before halftime when they went on a 16-3 run and cut the deficit to one point, 31-30. USI was a blistering six-of-nine from the field during the rally and was led by sophomore forward Emmanuel Little (Indianapolis, Indiana), who scored all of his nine first-half points during the run.
Little was followed in the first half by sophomore guard Mateo Rivera (Indianapolis, Indiana), who had the first five points of the game for USI and finished the half with seven.
In the second half, Point Loma extended its advantage to five points and beyond, including a 10-point 55-45 margin. The Eagles rallied once again, pulling to within four points, 61-57, on a jumper by senior guard Alex Stein(Evansville, Indiana) with 7:19 to play.
The Sea Lions, however, re-extended the lead, this time to 11-points, 68-57, with six to play when the Eagles made one last comeback attempt. USI surged with a 10-3 run and got back to a four-point deficit, 71-67, with 1:32 left, but that would be as close as it would come to the rest of the way. Point Loma converted eight-of-10 from the stripe in the last minutes to preserve the 81-71 victory.
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Stein led four Eagles in double-digits with 22 points and became USI’s all-time leading scorer with 2,219 career points. The All-American senior scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half on five-of-six from the field, one-of-two from beyond the arc, and seven-of-nine from the stripe.
Little and junior guard/forward Kobe Caldwell (Bowling Green, Kentucky) followed Stein with 16 points each, while Rivera reached double-digits with 10 points.
