 University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball withstood a second half comeback by McKendree University to post a 72-69 victory Monday evening at Screaming Eagles Arena. USI, avenges an early season road loss to the Bearcats in December, goes to 12-4 overall and 4-4 in the GLVC, while McKendree is 9-7, 4-4 GLVC.
USI was red hot from the field after the opening tip, hitting the first three shots and six-of-eight in building an early eight point lead, 15-7. McKendree would make a run of their own midway through the opening 20 minutes and knotted the game at 20-20.
After USI and McKendree traded a couple of buckets, the Eagles took command and built a 10-point lead, 35-25, with a 13-3 run that was capped off by a three-pointer from well beyond the arc by junior guard/forward Clayton Hughes. The lead would reach as many as 12 points, 39-27, on a Hughes layup with 2:21 left before the Eagles went into halftime with the lead, 42-32.
USI junior forward Emmanuel Little led the offensive attack during the first half with 13 points, getting to the line eight times and converting seven. Hughes joined Little in double-digits by the break with 10 points.
The second half opened with a bang as senior guard Joe Laravie put the Eagles up by a game-high 13 points, 45-32, with an old fashion three-point play at 19:44. The Bearcats’ offense followed with an 8-0 run to cut the Eagles advantage to five points, 45-40, with 16:48 to play
USI would maintain a five-to-nine point margin for the next six minutes until McKendree pulled to within two points, 53-51, with 10:46 left after a 6-0 spurt. The Bearcats continued to close the gap until they took the lead, 63-62, with 3:33 left on the clock. USI regained the lead, 64-63, before McKendree posted its final lead and largest of the second half, 66-64, with 2:52 left.
Little and Hughes took over to give the Eagles back the lead, 70-66, by combining for seven points and three rebounds in just over a minute. Junior guard Mateo Rivera sealed the victory for USI with a jumper with 56 ticks left on the clock as the Eagles closed out the 72-69 victory.
USI had four players reach double-digits in the scoring column with Little leading the way with 21 points. The junior guard, who grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, was five-of-10 from the field and took advantage of 12 trips to the stripe, converting 11.
Huhges and Laravie followed with 13 points each, while Rivera rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11.
The Bulldogs of Truman State raised their record to a 11-5 overall record, 7-1 in the league after defeating Quincy University, 84-70, Monday evening in Quincy, Illinois.
USI leads the all-time series versus Truman State, 6-2 overall and 5-1 in the GLVC, after the only meeting last year in the Physical Activities Center, 8-65. Little and senior guard/forward Kobe Caldwell had 13 points each in the 208-19 meeting, following guard Alex Stein’s team-best 25 points.
