University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball sailed by Midway University, 96-63, Sunday afternoon at the Physical Activities Center. The Screaming Eagles go to 5-2 overall, while Midway is 6-5 on the season.
USI used a 13-4 run to end the first half and led at the intermission, 47-34. The Eagles started the game with a 9-2 run before methodically building the 14-point halftime advantage.
Leading the way in the first half was junior guard/forward Kobe Caldwell (Bowling Green, Kentucky), who had five of the first nine USI points and finished the first 20 minutes with 15 points, and senior guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana), who had 10 points on three-of-six from the field, including a pair of three-point bombs.
The Eagles finished the first half on a 10-1 run and extended it to 17-1 in the first two minutes of the second half to lead by 20 points, 54-34. Senior forward Jacob Norman (Evansville, Indiana), sophomore guard Mateo Rivera (Indianapolis, Indiana), and Stein propelled the offensive surge with five points each.
Midway battled back with a 14-2 run of its own to close the gap to eight points, 56-48 with 14:17 remaining in the contest. USI responded with a 27-8 explosion over the next 10 minutes to regain command of the contest, 83-56. Sophomore forward Josh Price (Indianapolis, Indiana) led the Eagles’ authoritative run with eight points.
The Eagles cruised through the final three minutes to finish the game with a 96-63 victory. USI shot 45.8 percent for the game (33-72), 56.5 percent from downtown (13-23), and 81.0 percent from the stripe (17-21), while winning the battle of the glass with a commanding 51-31 advantage.
Four Eagles reached double digits on the scoreboard, led by Stein with a game-high 23 points. The senior guard was seven-of-12 from the field, perfect three-of-three from long range, and six-of-six from the stripe.
Caldwell followed with 17 points, while Price and Rivera rounded out the double-digit scorers with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore forward Emmanuel Little (Indianapolis, Indiana) paced the Eagles on the glass by tying a season-high with 12 rebounds.
The Eagles return to action Tuesday and Wednesday in the Bellarmine Classic when they take on Northern Michigan University and 12th-ranked Barry University in Louisville, Kentucky. Tipoff versus Northern Michigan is 4 p.m. (CST) Tuesday, while the start time against Barry is noon (CST).
The Northern Michigan Wildcats are 8-1 overall in the first half of the season and have won their last three-straight. Northern Michigan also has posted wins over the GLVC’s McKendree University (93-70) and Lewis University (77-59) to open the season in the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge November 10-11 in Marquette, Michigan.
Northern Michigan leads the all-time series with USI, 2-0, both in the NCAA II Tournament. The Eagles lost to the Wildcats in the 1980 regional in Dayton, Ohio, 93-83, and in the 1993 regional at USI, 86-85.
USI and Barry will be meeting for the first time in the history of the programs on Wednesday in Louisville. The 12th-ranked Buccaneers ran their record to 7-1 in the first two months of the 2018-19 season by defeating Drury University, 82-81, this afternoon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
