Strong Start, Defense Lifts Eagles To Fourth Straight Win

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Strong start, defense lifts Eagles to fourth straight win

QUINCY, Ill.—University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball used first-half runs of 13-5 and 16-2 as well as a 9-0 push to open the second half to cruise to an 80-65 Great Lakes Valley Conference road win over Quincy University Saturday afternoon.

Led by sophomore guard Tyler Henry (Brooklyn, New York) in the opening half, the Screaming Eagles used their 13-5 run to build a 20-10 advantage a little more than seven minutes into the contest.

Henry, who scored all of his 15 points in the first 20 minutes, was huge for the Eagles during their 16-2 run, which came after the Hawks cut USI’s lead to just two points. Henry scored 10 points in the spurt, which gave USI a commanding 38-22 advantage with four minutes left in the opening stanza.

USI (11-4, 6-3 GLVC), which led 42-30 at the break, scored nine straight points to open the second half and a 21-point advantage with 15 minutes to play.

Quincy (10-12, 3-9 GLVC) countered with a 10-2 run to cut the Eagles cushion to 13 points (53-40) with just over 13 minutes to play.

The Eagles, however, held the Hawks scoreless for the next three minutes and without a field goal for nearly five minutes as they increased their lead back to 21 points with a 9-1 surge. USI, which has won four straight games, pushed its lead to as much as 22 points before settling on the 15-point win.

In addition to Henry, the Eagles got a game-high 17 points from junior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) as well as 12 points from freshman guard Isaiah Swope(Evansville, Indiana) and junior forward Tyler Dancy (Belleville, Illinois). Freshman guard Isaiah Stafford (Bolingbrook, Illinois) rounded out the Eagles’ double-digit scorers with 10.

Simmons had 10 of his 17 points in the second half, while Swope and Dancy each had eight second-half points for the Eagles, who went 53.3 percent (32-60) from the field, including 62.1 percent (18-29) in the first 20 minutes.

Junior guard Jalen Stamps had 14 points to lead the Hawks, who were held to just 19-of-61 (.311) shooting, including 28.1 percent (9-32) in the first half.

USI returns to action Monday at 7:30 p.m. when it travels to St. Charles, Missouri, to take on Lindenwood University in a make-up game from a GLVC contest that was postponed earlier this month. The Lions (9-10, 5-6 GLVC) suffered a 72-63 road loss to Rockhurst University Saturday.