Eagles Surge By Tritons, 86-76
The University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team used a second half offensive surge to defeat University of Missouri-St. Louis, 86-76, on Homecoming Saturday afternoon at the Physical Activities Center. USI watched its record rise to 16-9 overall and 8-7 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while UMSL went to 10-14, 4-11 GLVC.
The Screaming Eagles grabbed an early 7-6 lead before the Tritons used a 9-1 run to post the largest margin of the opening half, 15-8. USI rallied to tie the score, 15-15, but was unable to push ahead as UMSL pulled into the lead and took a 33-32 advantage into halftime.
USI got back on track offensively in the second half, beginning with a 5-0 run to take command, 37-33, and the lead for good. The Tritons closed the gap to one point, three more times before the Eagles re-extended the lead to a comfortable margin. USI would lead by as many as 12 points, 83-71, with 1:20 to play before settling for the 10-point, 86-76 victory.
As a team, USI shot a blistering 69.6 percent from the field (16-23), 30 percent better than the first half, and 75 percent from beyond the arc (6-8), 35 percent better than the preceding 20 minutes.
Leading the second half charge was junior forward T.J. Tisdell (Cape Girardeau, Missouri), who finished the game with a team-high 20 points. Tisdell, who scored 14 of the 20 points in the final half, was eight-of-10 from the field, six-of-six in the second half, and four-of-nine from the stripe.
Junior guard Bobo Drummond (Peoria, Illinois) followed Tisdell in the scoring column with 17 points, hitting four bombs from long range, while freshman guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) dropped in 13 points. The final USI double-digit scorer was junior guard Jeril Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky), who had 11 points.
The Eagles hit the road for their final road trip of the regular season next week when they travel to play the University of Illinois Springfield Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and McKendree University Saturday at 3 p.m.
Following the final road swing of 2015-16, USI will host its regular season finale and Senior Day February 25 when Bellarmine University comes to visit the PAC for a 7:30 p.m. contest. The GLVC Tournament is set to begin February 28 with first games at campus sites.
