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WILBERFORCE, Ohio – The 17th-ranked UIndy men's basketball squad upped its record to 7-0 for the first time in nine seasons with a gritty 57-53 victory at in-region Central State Wednesday night.  The final marked the Greyhounds' second win over the Marauders in the last 11 days.

The rare non-conference rematch was the Hounds' first road contest of the year.  After downing CSU 100-56 in Nicoson Hall Nov. 24, the Greyhounds survived a much tougher test on the Marauders' home turf.

"They played tonight like the team we expected to see when we played them the first time," head coach Stan Gouard said. "They played so much harder tonight and they were making shots, which always help the confidence. They took us out of a lot of stuff we wanted to do and really slowed the game down."

Indianapolis-native Reece Cheatham poured in a game-high 25 points to go with six rebounds, four steals and three assists.

The Greyhounds (7-0) trailed by a pair at halftime, 30-28, and the deficit had grown to eight, 45-37, with 10:58 to play on a lay-up by Khari Riley. The Marauders (4-4) were able to hang on to the lead and still led by six, 48-42, with 4:52 to play when UIndy started its comeback.

Cheatham buried a three-pointer on an assist from Tyrae Robinson to immediately cut the lead to three and then Robinson drove for a hoop after a Central State free throw to make it a two-point game, 49-47, with 3:48 to play.

Neither team scored for the next two minutes until UIndy went on a mini-spurt with Leland Brown scoring six points in 18 seconds to give UIndy a four-point lead, 53-49, with 1:30 to play. The Marauders scored to make it a one-possession game, but after milking the shot clock, James Hollowell found Cheatham for another three-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to put the Hounds up five, 56-51, and ice the game.

"I told the guys in the locker room that we needed a game like this because we're going to have a lot of games like this when league play starts," Gouard said. "It was one of those nights where we weren't as efficient on offense as we had been and had to go win the game with our defense. In the final 10 minutes, we held them to eight points and that is why we were able to win."

Brown finished with 11 points for UIndy as it shot 37 percent from the field (20-54), including 4-of-18 three-pointers. The Hounds also struggled at the free throw line making just 13-of-22. The Greyhounds were able to hang around with their defense that had 10 steals and forced 20 turnovers to out-score Central State 22-2 in points off turnovers. UIndy also limited CSU to 42 percent shooting and 5-of-15 three-pointers.

DeMarkus Isom-Jones led the Marauders with 15 points, while Riley and Lee Tabb each scored 10 points.

The Greyhounds will take a break for the next two weeks for finals and conclude non-conference play at Nicoson Hall on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. against Ferris State.