The 14th-ranked University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team posted a 33-point win over the University of Illinois Springfield, 90-57, Thursday evening at the Physical Activities Center. USI sees its record go to 24-2 overall and 14-2 in the GLVC, while Illinois Springfield goes to 8-17 overall, 3-13 GLVC.
The win gives USI a first round bye in the upcoming GLVC Tournament and keeps the Screaming Eagles one game back of fourth-ranked and GLVC East Division leading Bellarmine University. USI leads third-place University of Indianapolis by two games in the GLVC East, while the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis University fell into a tie for fourth with a pair of losses tonight.
USI also reached 14 wins in the GLVC for the first time since 2010-11 and the 19th-time in the history of the program.
A two-point game through much of the opening half with the Eagles posting a 22-20 lead with 5:50 left before the intermission. USI broke the game open in the final five minutes of the first stanza with a 21-2 run and led 43-24 at the break.
The 21-3 run was led by the nine-point effort of senior guard/forward Jeril Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky), who topped the 1,000 point plateau with his third three-point bomb of the run and had 13 points before halftime. Taylor is the 19th Eagle to reach the 1,000 point plateau.
USI sophomore guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) matched Taylor’s 13 first half points, hitting five-of-six from the field and two-of-three from beyond the arc. Stein scored seven of the 13 points in the first eight minutes and combined with senior guard Bobo Drummond (Peoria, Illinois) to score the team’s first 16 points.
In the second half, Illinois Springfield cut the USI’s advantage to 11 points, 49-38, before the Eagles hit the boosters and flew through the Stars on a 28-7 run to make the score, 77-43, with 6:28 to play. USI never looked back from that point as it would lead by as many as 40 points twice before settling for the 90-57 win.
As a team, USI also shined on the defensive end of the floor. The Eagles, as a squad, had eight steals, four blocks, and forced 15 turnovers.
Individually, Stein added 10 points in the second half to finish with a game-high 23 points. The sophomore guard was nine-of-12 from the field, three-of-four from long range, and two-of-two from the line.
Taylor followed Stein in the scoring column with 22 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the year. The senior guard/forward, in addition to reaching 1,000 career points, moved into 25th place all-time at USI with 415 career rebounds.
USI junior guard Marcellous Washington (Lexington, Kentucky) and Drummond rounded out the double-figure scores for the Eagles with 14 points and 11 points, respectively.
The Eagles conclude the 2016-17 home slate Saturday at 3:15 p.m. when they host McKendree University for Senior Day. McKendree saw its record to go 9-15 overall and 3-13 in the GLVC after losing at Bellarmine this evening, 96-72.
USI, which defeated McKendree in the GLVC season-opener in December, 104-58, leads the all-time series with the Bearcats, 8-7, and holds an advantage at the PAC, 5-3. The Eagles have won eight of the last nine match-ups with the Bearcats.
