USI MBB posts big win at Lindenwood

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – University of Southern Indiana sophomore guard/forward AJ Smith (Edwardsville, Illinois) scored a career-high 27 points and led the Screaming Eagles to a 73-62 victory over Lindenwood University Sunday afternoon at Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Missouri. The Eagles rise to 4-11 overall and start OVC play 1-1, while the Lions are 6-8 overall, 0-1 OVC.
 
The victory marked the 50^th USI career win for Eagles’ Head Coach Stan Gouard. Gouard is 50-41 at USI and 277-158 for his coaching career.
 
USI was the fast out of the gate, posting a 15-5 lead before seven minutes were gone in the game. The Eagles, who were four-of-seven from the field, including a pair of three-pointers, and five-of-six from the stripe in the opening run, was led by junior forward Nick Hittle (Indianapolis, Indiana), who had six of the 15 points during the opening run.
 
The Lions would battle back, responding with a 12-1 run, and took a 17-16 lead with 8:14 before halftime. The squads would trade buckets and leads from that point before USI grabbed a 31-30 lead at the intermission on a runner in the lane by junior guard Jeremiah Hernandez (Chicago, Illinois) with eight seconds on the clock.
 
The second half would belong to USI and Smith, who scored 18 of his 27 points in the final 20 minutes.
 
After the lead changed hands 12 times in the first 13 minutes of the final half, the Eagles took control with a 7-1 run to lead 60-55 with 6:48 to play. Junior forward Jack Mielke (Downers Grove, Illinois) gave the Eagles the lead for good with a pair of free throws, while Smith scored the final five points of the run to put USI up five.
 
Through all of the lead changes in the second half, Smith kept the Eagles moving forward with 11 of the first 24 USI points. Sophomore forward Kiyron Powell (Evansville, Indiana) also contributed to keeping USI in the contest with an additional six points.
 
The Lions would cut the USI advantage to one, 60-59, with 5:06 left, but that would be close as they would be the rest of the contest. The Eagles, who are 7-0 all-time against Lindenwood, sealed the 73-62 win with a 13-3 surge in the final five minutes, led by six points from Hernandez.
 
Overall for the game, Smith would posts his career-high and game-high 27 points on nine-of-16 from the field, four-of-seven from beyond the arc, and five-of-eight from the stripe. He also tied for a game-high with nine rebounds, missing his seventh double-double of the season by one.
 
Hernandez followed Smith in the scoring and rebound columns with 16 points and eight rebounds. The junior guard was four-of-10 from the field and eight-of-12 from the line.
 
Powell rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points off the bench. The sophomore was a blistering five-of-six from the field.
 
As a team, USI dominated the glass with a 43-25 advantage in rebounds and held the Lions to 36 percent from the field (18-50).  The Eagles offensively shot 45.1 percent from the field in the game (23-51), 51.7 percent in the second half (15-29).
 
Next Up For USI:
USI opens the 2024 calendar year with a pair of OVC home games at Screaming Eagles Arena next week. The Eagles will be hosting Tennessee State University Thursday for Fan Appreciation Night and Tennessee Tech University Saturday for Faculty Appreciation Night.
 
Both games are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. The USI Women’s Basketball will lead off the doubleheaders at 5 p.m. each night.
 
TSU is 8-7 to start the year and 1-1 after the first weekend of OVC play. The Tigers, who 2-4 in the last six games, opened OVC play at home with a 91-75 loss to the University of Tennessee at Martin before bouncing back to defeat the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 90-82.
 
USI and TSU split its OVC games last year with both winning on the others home court. The Tigers took the first meeting, 80-76, at Screaming Eagles Arena, while the Eagles won in Nashville, 93-81.  
 
The Golden Eagles of TTU are 5-10 in 2023-24 and 0-2 in the OVC. TTU, which is also 2-4 in the last six games, start conference action with an 81-75 loss to Little Rock and an 81-73 loss to UT Martin at home last week.
 
TTU took both meetings with USI last year, winning in Cookeville, Tennessee, 84-69, and at Screaming Eagles Arena, 82-79.