Box score
INDIANAPOLIS- The Greyhound men's basketball team connected on a school-record 18 three-pointers to get past visiting Lewis, 113-109, in triple overtime at Nicoson Hall Thursday night. The exciting action was highlighted by a pair of Hounds hitting the 30-point plateau (DeAndre Brock 31, Tristan Rogers 30) and a first-half milestone for Justin Barnard, who notched his 500th career rebound.
The Greyhounds wasted little time in going to work on the school record, hitting on their first two attempts from deep. Rogers (pictured) knocked down three himself in the opening eight minutes. UIndy (13-11, 7-9 GLVC) enjoyed its first halftime lead in eight games, taking a 40-35 advantage into the locker room.
Lewis (18-5, 11-5) went on a 13-3 run to open the second half, snaring its biggest lead at 48-43. A pair of Brock triples bookended a Tyler Kitchel three to give UIndy a 52-50 lead. The advantage changed hands several times over the next seven minutes until the Greyhounds stretched-out to a seven-point lead thanks to a traditional three-point play by Myron Jackson with 3:25 left for a comfortable 76-69 margin.
The Hounds managed only a single free throw make during the rest of regulation, however, as the Flyers scratched back to tie it at 77-all. Brandon Dagans was the Flyers' answer on seemingly every possession down the stretch, scoring four points in the final 52 seconds of regulation and a whopping 22 more in the overtime periods.
Dagans scored six in the first overtime, helping the Flyers to several leads in the first extra frame. Rogers countered with nine of his own in the first OT, including a triple with 2:51 left for a brief 86-85 UIndy lead. The teams continued to trade punches as Dennis Thomas scored on a layup on the next possession, giving LU the lead right back.
Kitchel begged for the ball on the left wing in front of the Greyhound bench and calmly knocked down a long range three to ignite the crowd with UIndy re-establishing the upper hand. Stephen Bolt threw down a vicious two-handed dunk on the other end, tying the game at 89-89 with 1:52 left in the first overtime.
Never team, however, could muster any points the rest of the frame, sending the game to a second extra session. Several opportunities presented themselves down the stretch. With 18 seconds left, Bolt was caught trying to handle the ball near the timeline and was called for traveling, giving the Hounds another chance at a game-winner. Justin Barnard's attempt from three was blocked, but Dagans turned it over with 0.5 seconds left for another Greyhound opportunity. The Greyhounds attempted to get a tip-in, but Jackson's half-court heave from out-of-bounds sailed too far, hitting the basket for a flip in possession without taking any time off the clock. LU managed to get a good look underneath, but Bolt's shot was just off-the-mark, sending the game to another session.
The second overtime belonged to Brock early. He hit a couple of deep shots and added a fastbreak dunk to make the score 100-94 in favor of the home team. Dagans took charge from there, scoring seven points in the final 1:12 to tie it at 101-101. Brock appeared to have tallied a game-winner in the closing seconds, but his layup effort from the baseline dribbled off the rim several times before falling off-the-mark.
Tyke Cockerham, after sitting the bulk of the first two overtimes, made two big shots in the third OT, his first a layup with 1:11 left for a 107-103 lead. He followed that with a floater on the next possession for a 109-104 advantage. Brock added two free throw makes to stretch the gap to seven with :18 left, virtually putting the game out of reach.
Dagans hit another huge three, leaning into the defense to slice it back to one possession at 112-109 and five seconds left. Cockerham would make 1-of-2 from the line seconds later to finally put the game to rest in the win column for UIndy.
The Greyhounds kept their slim postseason chances alive with the win and a Bellarmine loss to Northern Kentucky. UIndy plays its final three games at home while the Knights must hit the road for their last three contests. BU leads UIndy by three games for the final GLVC playoff spot. UIndy hosts Wisconsin-Parkside Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
Notes: Six different Greyhounds had at least one three-pointer (Brock 6, Rogers 5, Jackson 2, Keith Radcliff 2, Kitchel 2 and Barnard 1) ... The 18 three-pointers made by the Greyhounds tied a league mark set by Southern Indiana in 1997 ... Dagan's 42 points tied the most by a GLVC player this season, tying Brock's 42 effort vs. Quincy (Jan. 19) ... UIndy's last 3OT game came back in a Jan. 30, 1992 loss to Ashland (124-116) ... Rogers' 30 and Kitchel's 12 points each set new career bests ... Radcliff's 15 points tied a career high ... Jackson entered the game hitting just 3-of-31 from three-point range. He hit both attempts Thursday ... Justin Barnard became just the 15th UIndy player ever to collect 1,000 career points and 500 rebounds.
