 University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball junior forward Josh Price posted a double-double to lead the Screaming Eagles to a 71-62 victory over the University of Illinois Springfield Thursday evening in Springfield, Illinois. USI goes to 20-5 overall and 12-5 in the GLVC, while Illinois Springfield finishes the evening 14-11, 7-10 GLVC.
The victory marks the season-best sixth-straight victory and the Eagles’ fourth-straight 20-win campaign, ninth in the last 11 season. USI also moves into second in the GLVC point standings and remains in a third-place tie in the overall conference standings.
The Eagles struggled from the field during a back-and-forth first half and trailed at the break 29-26. USI shot 32.4 percent from the field (11-34) and 20 percent from beyond the arc (2-10) in a stanza that had 16 lead changes and five ties.
USI senior guard/forward Kobe Caldwell led the way for during the opening 20 minutes, scoring seven of the first nine points for the Eagles. Junior forward Josh Price followed with six points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds in the half.
The start of the second half saw the Eagles surge with a 6-0 run to get the lead, 32-29, punctuated with a two-hand slam by junior forward Emmanuel Little. USI would push the lead to as many as six points, 44-38, on a lay-up by Little with 11:48 left.
The Prairie Stars would rally back with an 8-2 run to knot the game at 46-46 with 8:57 remaining. USI bounced back to take command with a 12-2 run that was sparked by seven points by junior forward Clayton Hughes that gave the Eagles a 10 point advantage, 58-48, with 5:41 left.
The second half advantage would expand to as many as 12 points, 60-48, before the Stars began to make another run at the Eagles that cut margin to six points, 60-54, at 3:20 remaining on the clock. Price, who dominated with 14 second half points, propelled the Eagles in an 11-8 race to the end of the game for the 71-62 victory.
USI shot better as a team in the second half, hitting 51.5 percent (17-33) mostly from inside the three-point arc. The Eagles were 41.8 percent overall from the field (28-67) at the final buzzer.
Individually, Price finished the game with a dominating 20 points and 13 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. The junior forward was seven-of-11 from the field and six-of-six from the stripe.
Following Price in the scoring column was Caldwell, Little, and Hughes with 11 points each to close out the double-digit scorers. Little also grabbed 11 rebounds to post his team-best ninth double-double of the season.
USI returns to the friendly surroundings of Screaming Eagles Arena Saturday to host Lewis University for a 3:30 p.m. contest. The Flyers are 13-12 overall and 8-9 in the GLVC after falling to McKendree University, 70-65, this evening in Romeoville, Illinois.
The Eagles hold a 47-27 all-time series lead versus the Flyers of Lewis after winning one of three meetings in 2018-19. Lewis took the two regular season meetings, winning in Romeoville, Illinois, 79-69, and at the Physical Activities Center, 83-73, while USI won in the final seconds of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional semifinals, 62-61. USI also held a 30-11 advantage in games at the old Physical Activities Center.
Saturday’s game is the NCAA Division II Showcase game, which will be aired live on NCAA.com as well as NCAA Division II’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
