Eagles Upset West Texas A&M In Elite Eight Opener
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EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Senior guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) scored a game-high 31 points as University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball punched its ticket to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight with a 94-84 upset victory over nationally-ranked No. 3 West Texas A&M University Wednesday evening at the Ford Center.
Playing in front of an NCAA II Elite Eight opening-round record crowd of 7,330 fans, the No. 7-seeded Screaming Eagles electrified their fans early in the contest as Stein scored seven points in the first three minutes of the game to put USI up, 9-2.
West Texas A&M (34-4), which entered the week as the No. 2 seed in the Elite Eight, bounced back to get to within a point (11-10) with 14 minutes to play in the opening half, but a layup and a three-pointer by sophomore guard Mateo Rivera (Indianapolis, Indiana) put the Eagles back up by seven (26-19) with eight minutes to play in the first half.
The Buffaloes, once again, closed the gap, this time trimming USI’s advantage to 31-28, but freshman forward Tyler Dancy (Belleville, Illinois) erupted for seven of his career-high 11 points in a two-minute span as USI closed the half on a 15-6 run to take a 46-34 lead into the intermission.
USI (26-8) and West Texas A&M traded buckets throughout the early portion of the second half; but when Stein was fouled on a made three-pointer prior to the media timeout, the momentum was squarely in USI’s corner. Stein made the subsequent free throw out of the break and USI led 57-42 with 15 minutes left in the contest.
The Buffaloes, however, charged back into the contest as they used a 16-3 run to close USI’s lead to just two points (60-58) with just over 10 minutes on the clock.
Sophomore forward Emmanuel Little (Indianapolis, Indiana), however, scored on a layup in the paint, while a jumper by Stein extended USI’s advantage back to six points with nine minutes to play.
USI increased its lead to eight with four minutes to play following free throws by sophomore forward Josh Price(Indianapolis, Indiana). A Price layup followed by a pair of Stein free throws put the Eagles’ lead back in double-digits (84-73) with less than two minutes to play as USI went onto to the victory.
Stein closing in on record
Stein surpassed Chris Bowles, who scored 2,169 points from 1990-94, for second place on USI’s all-time scoring list. He needs just 20 more points to surpass USI’s all-time leading scorer, Stephen Jackson, for first place on USI’s all-time scoring list. Jackson scored 2,216 points from 1983-87, playing three years without the benefit of the three-point line.
Dancy nets career high
Dancy scored a career-high 11 points in the win, all of which came in the first 20 minutes of the game. He nearly doubled his previous career-high of six points.
Leaders
Stein was 9-of-18 from the field and 11-of-11 from the free throw line as he led all scorers with 31 points. He also had seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Price added 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, while Little followed Dancy in the scoring column with 10 points and seven boards. Senior forward Jacob Norman (Evansville, Indiana) had a game-high nine rebounds for the Eagles, who held a 46-34 rebounding advantage.
Freshman guard Qua Grant had 27 points and six rebounds to lead the Buffaloes, while senior guard Ryan Quid added 17 points and six rebounds.
Big crowd
Tonight’s crowd of 7,330 was the second-largest crowd in the history of the NCAA Division II Tournament. The record is 7,763, which was set at the 2013 NCAA Division II championship game between Drury University and Metro State University.
Elite Eight history
USI, which is making its fourth appearance in the Elite Eight and first since 2004, is looking to advance to the national championship game for the fourth time in program history. The Eagles won the 1995 national championship and were the runner-up in 1994 and 2004. They are now 8-2 all-time in the Elite Eight.
Up next
The Eagles play the No. 6 seed, Point Loma Nazarene University, in the semifinals of the Elite Eight Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at the Ford Center. The Sea Lions (30-4) defeated the No. 3 seed, Queens University (North Carolina), 87-74 in the final quarterfinal game of the day.
Earlier in the day
The No. 5 seed, Saint Anselm College (26-5), defeated the No. 4 seed, Nova Southeastern University, 94-84, in the opening game; while the No. 1 seed, Northwest Missouri State University (36-0), defeated the No. 8 seed, Mercyhurst University, 55-51, in the second game of the day.
