EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball blistered the nets in the second half and flew by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 84-67, on Homecoming Saturday in Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles rise to 7-18 overall and 4-8 in OVC play, while the Cougars are 13-12 overall, 6-6 OVC.
With the win, USI moves back into eighth in the league and the race to secure a spot in the OVC Tournament in March. Â The Eagles have a one game lead over Southeast Missouri State University, Tennessee Tech University, and Lindenwood University with six games to play in the 2023-24 season.
The top eight teams at the end of OVC play advance to the league tournament March 6-9 at the Ford Center in Evansville. USI has four games on the road before host the final weekend before the conference tournament.
The Eagles scored seven of the first nine points of the contest and had a 7-2 lead to start the game. SIUE would shrink the early USI lead as the Eagles and the Cougars traded baskets and mini offensive runs through most of the first half.
USI overcame a five-point deficit with 4:01 until halftime and took a 33-31 lead with a 9-2 run. Sophomore guard Jack Campion (Milton, Wisconsin) led USI through the dash with four of the nine points.
Eagles’ sophomore guard/forward AJ Smith (Edwardsville, Illinois) extended the run to 13-2 with a pair of free throws and a thunderous dunk to end the half, sending USI into the locker room with a 37-31 lead. Smith finished the opening half with 11 points and 10 rebound to record his 11th double-double of the season.
Smith continued the USI surge into the second half, hitting the first bucket to extend the run to 15-2 and a 39-31 advantage. The Eagles would increase the lead to as many as nine points three times in the first seven minutes of the final half.
USI would take a commanding lead at the 8:00 mark, 65-46, with a 12-1 run on a pair of three-pointers by junior forward Jack Mielke (Downers Grove, Illinois), a three from sophomore guard Ryan Hall (Kettering, Ohio) and an old fashioned three-point play by junior guard Jeremiah Hernandez (Chicago, Illinois). The lead would grow to a game-high 21, 81-59, with 1:55 to play on back-to-back three-pointers by Mielke and Hall and a free throw by junior guard Sam Mervis (Indianapolis, Indiana).
The Cougars cut the USI margin under 20 in the final minute before the Eagles sealed the 84-67 Homecoming victory.
In the game, USI was dominating offensively over the two halves. The Eagles posted a season-high 58.7 percent from the field (27-46), while shooting a blistering 66.7 percent from the outside (16-24) and beyond the arc (8-12) in the second half.
In the scoring column, Smith finished with a game-high 17 points and 12 rebounds. The sophomore was a red-hot six-of-nine from the field, including a pair of three-pointers, and three-of-four from the stripe.
Mielke and Hernandez followed with 15 points each, while Campion rounded out he double-figure scorers with 13 points. Mielke was a blistering five-of-six from downtown, including four-of-four in the second half.
Next Up For USI:
USI will be on the road for the next four games beginning Thursday when it visits the University of Tennessee at Martin in Martin, Tennessee, for an 8 p.m. contest. The Eagles finish the first half of the road trip February 17 when a visit to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for a 3:30 p.m. tip in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Skyhawks of UTM rose to 15-10 overall, 8-4 OVC, with a 62-59 win at Western Illinois University Saturday. UTM, which is in a three-way tie for second in the OVC, has won five of its last six games following the matchup with WIU and splitting last week.
UTM leads the all-time series with USI, 5-4, after a season split between the two teams last year. The Eagles took the opening game last year, 80-66, at Screaming Eagles Arena, while the Skyhawks won in Martin, 86-83, in overtime.
The Little Rock Trojans are 14-11 overall and 8-4 in the OVC after taking its only game of this week, winning at Western Illinois University, 63-60. Little Rock, which hosts Morehead State University Thursday before welcoming USI, enters next week’s action on a three-game winning streak and has won six of the last seven. The six of the last seven stretch started with USI on January 18.
USI, which has a 2-1 series lead over the Trojans, lost the opening game of the 2023-24 series with Little Rock,77-75, in a game that came down to the final seconds and possessions. USI junior guard Jeremiah Hernandez led the Eagles in the loss with 28 points, while junior forward Jack Mielke and junior guard/forward Javius Moore (McComb, Mississippi) followed with 17 points and 15 points, respectively.
