University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball could not get on track from long range and fell short of King University, 86-80, on the opening day of the Bill Jeoregens Memorial Classic Saturday afternoon at the Physical Activities Center. The Screaming Eagles go to 7-3 overall, while the Tornado is 8-3 on the season.
After trailing by nine points early, the Eagles moved into the driver’s seat with a 19-4 run to lead 27-21 with 9:03 left before the intermission. USI sophomore forward Emmanuel Little (Indianapolis, Indiana) led the Eagles’ surge with nine points as the squad hit six-of-eight from the field and five-of-five from the stripe.
The Eagles extended the lead to as many as eight points, 42-34, at the 3:20 mark before the Tornado went on an 11-2 run to close out the first half and took a 45-44 lead in halftime.
The Tornado winds did not slow down to open the second half as King blew through USI to build a 13-point margin with 13:14 left, 65-52. King would maintain a nearly double-digit lead for most of the final 20 minutes until USI began to chip away at the deficit, cutting the margin to four points twice (79-75 and 82-78).
The four-point deficits would be as close as the Eagles would come in the final minutes as the Tornado closed out the 86-80 win.
As a team, USI shot 47.1 percent from the field overall (24-51), but struggled from beyond the arc, hitting 20 percent of its shots from downtown (4-20). King also had the advantage on the glass, posting a 31-26 lead.
Little led the Eagles with a season-best 24 points and reached 20-or-more points for the second time in three games. The sophomore forward was eight-of-14 from the field and eight-of-10 from the line, while grabbing a game-high seven rebounds.
Senior guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) followed with 20 points, while senior guard/forward Nate Hansen (Evansville, Indiana) and junior guard/forward Kobe Caldwell (Bowling Green, Kentucky) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points and 10 points, respectively.
The Eagles conclude the 2018 calendar and the brief two-game homestand of the Bill Joergens Memorial Classic when they host Ohio Valley University Sunday at 3:15 p.m. The Fighting Scots, who are 5-4 overall and 1-4 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, won their last two games before the holiday break to stop a four-game losing streak.
USI leads the all-time series 8-0 versus Ohio Valley University with four of the wins coming at the PAC and four on a neutral court. The Eagles’ last three wins over the Fighting Scots have coming at the PAC, including last season’s 84-73 overtime victory.
