- Â University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball was stunned by the University of Indianapolis, 62-61, Thursday evening in Indianapolis. USI, which missed a chance to move into first in the GLVC East, sees its record to go 4-3 this season, while UIndy ends the evening 1-7.
USI had to dig out of a hole in the first half as UIndy built a 7-2 advantage after the Screaming Eagles started the game one-of-five from the field. Senior forward Josh Price had USI’s only bucket in the first six minutes of the contest.
After junior guard/forward Glen Rouch broke the Eagles scoring drought with a bucket at 14:31, the USI offense started to gain momentum. The Eagles knotted the game at 8-8 on a pair of free throws by Price, while USI got the go-ahead bucket, 11-8, at 10:04 with a three-point bomb by Rouch from the corner.
Those five points ignited a 24-15 USI run to the intermission and a 30-23 halftime advantage. The Eagles led by as many as 13 points, 28-15, when senior guard Mateo Rivera hit a bucket from downtown with 2:58 to halftime.
Price, senior guard Clayton Hughes, and senior forward Emmanuel Little finished the opening 20 minutes with six points each to lead the way.
The seven-point halftime lead shrank quickly to open the final 20 minutes as the Greyhounds made a run to take a 42-41 lead with 11:18 to play. Price quickly gave USI back the lead, 43-42, as the Eagle regained their halftime lead, 50-43, when Hughes drained a three-pointer with just over nine minutes remaining.
The Greyhounds, however, were not done and went on an 11-1 run to take a 54-51 lead with under four minutes to play. USI rallied to tie the game 57-57 with 2:01 left on a jumper by junior guard Jelani Simmons, only to see UIndy regain the advantage, 60-57, twenty seconds later.
Rivera revived the Eagles again with a three-point bomb to knot the game, 60-60, with 87 ticks left on the clock before the Greyhounds muscled their back into the lead, 62-60. USI missed a chance to tie the game at 62-62 when Price missed the first of two shots at the line and left the Eagles down one, 62-61 with 22 seconds remaining.
The Eagles got two more looks at the bucket in the final 12 seconds, but Rivera and Rouch could not get the ball to fall in the 62-61 loss.
Price led the way for the Eagles in the box score with his fourth double-double of the year, 16 points and 12 rebounds. Rivera followed Price on the glass with a season-high 11 rebounds, one short of tying a career-best.
USI returns to Screaming Eagles Arena for the first time since December 12 when it comes home to host UIndy Saturday at 3:15 p.m. The Eagles are looking to payback the Greyhounds after stumbling on Senior Day last spring, 88-76, despite the 31-point performance by Little.
