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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – UIndy fought back from 19 points down with under 13 minutes remaining to cut the lead to one with under a minute to play, but couldn't complete the comeback against No. 8 Drury, 77-72, in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Deaconess Great Lakes Valley Conference Basketball Championship Tournament at the Ford Center.
The eighth-seeded Greyhounds (20-8) still trailed by 10, 69-59, with 7:30 to go against the top-seeded Panthers (23-4) when the rally intensified. UIndy went on a 7-3 run to close the deficit to six, 72-66, on
Leland Brown's free throws with 1:45 remaining.
UIndy's pressure began to pay dividends late as they forced a bad pass that resulted in a back court violation just 24 seconds later. It only took eight more seconds for
Tyrae Robinson to get fouled and convert both freebies to make it a four-point game. The Greyhounds immediately forced another turnover as they trapped Drake Patterson and caused him to travel.
The Greyhounds converted again as
Daniel Daudu drove from the right wing and whipped a pass to the left corner for
Reece Cheatham to rattle home a three-pointer, 72-71, with 53 seconds left. Drury answered as they ran down the shot clock and then Brandon Lockhart drove the lane for a finger roll with 22 seconds left, 74-71.
"We sped them up a little bit by pressing more than we did in the first half," head coach
Stan Gouard said. "We didn't settle as much as we did in the first half. We did a better job of getting to the basket. We played about 10 or 12 minutes of good basketball and look where we are. We have to put together a 40-minute game and we didn't do that tonight."
UIndy had the chance to tie as Robinson handed the ball off to Cheatham on the right wing for a three-pointer that was long. Drury hit a one free throw after being fouled to give UIndy a last hope when Robinson was fouled with 3.6 seconds left trailing by four, 75-71. The plan was for Robinson to make the first and then miss the second for a chance for a tip-out for the tying three-pointer. Unfortunately, Robinson missed the first. He made the second to keep it at a one-possession game, but the Panthers safely inbounded and made their free throws to seal the win.
Robinson led all players by tying his career-high with 24 points and Cheatham added 17 points and eight rebounds. Brown also tallied double figures with 11 points, six rebounds and two steals.
"We just waited too late to start playing," Gouard said. "We got off to a bad start and they had more energy to start the basketball game. We dug ourselves a deep whole that is kind of hard to get out of. We got some good looks late, but I thought our legs were gone expending so much energy to get back into the ball game."
The Greyhounds had 19 turnovers that led to 19 points for the Panthers, but only two in the second half. UIndy forced 18 Drury turnovers and out-scored it 17-2 in points off turnovers in the second half. The Hounds also dominated on the glass, 39-29, with 15 offensive rebounds that led to 14 second-chance points.
UIndy struggled dealing with the officiating flow of the game, committing 29 fouls that led Drury to making 26-of-39 free throws. The Greyhounds were able to hit 16-of-20 free throws of their own in the second half and finished at 23-of-30 for the game. Drury also shot 51.1 percent (23-45), including 18-of-29 from inside the arc. The Hounds struggled from the field making just 21-of-56 (.375) overall and 7-of-26 behind the arc (.269).
Drury was led by Alex Hall with 20 points, Teddy Simniok with 17 points and nine rebounds and Lockhart with 10 points, seven assists, five steals and three rebounds.
The Greyhounds took the early lead, 3-2 after a three-pointer by
James Hollowell, but then Drury took over. The Panthers went on a 12-0 run in just 2:31 to lead by 11, 14-3.
UIndy fought back to within seven, 16-7, after a three-pointer by Robinson, but the Panthers found the answer and pushed to a 13-point lead, 27-14, midway through the half. Drury didn't make a field goal for the next six minutes, but did make 6-of-8 free throws until Kameron Bundy scored on a lay-up for a 15-point lead, 35-20, and Gouard used his third timeout of the half with 4:28 to play.
The Greyhounds tried to rally as Cheatham canned a couple of long three-pointers to close the deficit to eight, 38-30, but Drury answered with the final five points of the half to lead by 13, 43-30.
The Greyhounds committed 13 turnovers and couldn't convert on Drury's seven for a 17-1 deficit in points off turnovers. The Greyhounds also committed 15 fouls in the first half with Drury converting 14-of-20 free throws. The Panthers also shot 50 percent (13-26) to 37.5 percent (9-24) for the Hounds, with five of those coming behind the arc.
UIndy will now wait for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on NCAA.com to see if they will receive an at-large bid. The Greyhounds were sixth in the Midwest Region rankings released on Wednesday. The tournament champions from the GLVC and GLIAC, along with the next six highest ranked teams in the region will make up the eight-team regional played at the site of the top seed.