Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Adrian Moss led all scorers with 21 points and Wilbur O'Neal added 14 points and eight rebounds to lead UIndy men's basketball past No. 7 Southern Indiana, 59-56, in front of 1,800 at the Physical Activities Center on Thursday night.

Coupled with their 99-94 overtime win over No. 1 Bellarmine on Dec. 1, the Greyhounds (13-3, 6-2 GLVC) improved to 2-0 against teams ranked in the top 10 of the NABC Division II Coaches Poll.

"It means a lot. I'm not going to sugar coat it. Beating the No. 1 team and now beating the No. 7 team, but we still have a big task ahead at No. 1 Kentucky Wesleyan," Moss said. "We don't want to finish in the middle of the pack. We want the No. 1 seed and to do that you have to go to Southern Indiana and Kentucky Wesleyan and Bellarmine and come away with a win."

UIndy forced the Screaming Eagles (14-2, 6-2 GLVC) into 20 turnovers with 15 steals, including five by Reece Cheatham, four from Moss and two each by O'Neal, Miles Mitchell and Leland Brown. The Greyhounds were able to switch between man and zone and hold USI to 35.6 percent (21-59) overall and just 6-of-23 from behind the three-point line.

"They missed shots and I think our zone was pretty good," head coach Stan Gouard said. "We mixed it up and kept those guys thinking a little bit. A lot of credit goes to our guys for thinking on the fly and making the adjustments we wanted to make."

The Greyhounds were also able to out-rebound the Eagles, 42-41, who were third in the NCAA Division II in rebound margin (+12.7) entering the game. UIndy pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, for just one less than the home squad. Even with 19 offensive rebounds, Southern Indiana was only able to manage 10 second-chance points.

"It was Wilbur and Cody (Vest) and Joe (Daniels) just down there banging," Moss said. "Coach Lanam just kills those guys in practice and it paid off for us."

"What was on the board in the locker room was 'toughness prevails' and that's what it boiled down to," Gouard said. "Who was going to be the tougher team and who was going to give in first? Early on, they were the tougher team, but late in the basketball game we started making some tough plays and got some big rebounds. The tougher team was going to win tonight and for the most part, we did a good job of that."

Leading by three at halftime, 28-25, UIndy quickly pushed its lead to 11, 36-25, with an 8-0 run to start the second half capped by a Cheatham three-pointer with 17:45 to go. The Eagles rallied and cut the lead to four, 38-34, over the next four minutes, but UIndy had another run. Back-to-back steals by Cheatham led to a lay-up for Brown and three-pointer for Moss to go back up 11, 49-38, with 10:35 to go.

The hosts came back to score the next nine points to cut the lead to two, 49-47, but 4-of-4 free throws from Moss and O'Neal pushed the lead back to six, 53-47, with 5:12 left, but UIndy couldn't pull away. The Screaming Eagles pulled back within two, 55-53, after a dunk by Isaac McClure with 1:38 to go, but UIndy forced six consecutive missed shots and a turnover to hang on for its third consecutive one-possession win.

"We've got older players that are 23, 24-years-old and we've been there before," Moss said. "We did this last year when we won here. It's my job when it gets crazy like that to settle us down and get a good shot and I think I did a good job of that. (O'Neal) did too. He was a presence inside all game. They had to help and he opened up some things for me."

"We found a way," Gouard said. "When you think about our past few games, we've been in clutch situations and we've been fortunate to come out on top. I don't draw them up like this, but we've been in this situation enough times to understand what the pressure is all about and finish games off."

Kenyon Smith led USI with 16 points, while McClure added 13 points and nine rebounds. UIndy held USI-leading scorer Brandon Hogg to seven points below his average with 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

The Greyhounds remain on the road when they take the short trip to Owensboro to face the top-ranked team in the country for the second time this season in Kentucky Wesleyan (15-1, 7-1 GLVC). The Panthers defeated Saint Joseph's, 84-61, at the Sportscenter on Thursday night.