Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Facing its second top-10 opponent in the last three days, the No. 14 UIndy men's basketball team (12-2, 4-2 GLVC) dropped a 73-64 decision at 10th-ranked Southern Indiana Saturday evening.  The Screaming Eagles got to the line a staggering 44 times, hitting 37 of their attempts.
 
The Eagles (13-1, 5-1) came into the night 15th in the 16-team GLVC in free throw percentage, but the home team knocked a more-than-solid 84 percent of its foul shots Saturday – 20 percent higher than its season average.
 
Meanwhile, UIndy shot 28 less free throws than its opponent, hitting 12-of-16 (.750) attempts.
 
"We have to tip our hats to those guys," said UIndy head coach Stan Gouard.  "They came in shooting 65 percent from the foul line, but they made free throws tonight.
 
"We have to do a better job as a unit in getting to the foul line and being able to play without fouling so much.  A lot of touch fouls we made out on the perimeter, far away from the basket, put those guys in the bonus and they took advantage of it."
 
The in-state rivals battled to a 32-32 stalemate at the half, as neither team led by more than four points.  Junior Joe Lawson led the way with 15 points and three rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
 
USI got off to a quick start in the second half, however, scoring the first nine points to earn a small cushion.  With 3-pointers from Tyrae Robinson and Reece Cheatham, the Hounds came right back to cut it to three, but the home Eagles answered with an 8-0 run to regain the momentum and take the game's first double-digit lead.
 
UIndy battled to get the margin down to single digits on numerous occasions but would not get closer than seven in the final seven minutes of play.  USI held off the Greyhounds by shooting 18-for-20 from the line in that span.
 
"I thought we recovered well from the run they made," noted Gouard, "but we just couldn't finish the game.  If you look at our shooting percentage, we shot 37 percent tonight, so we missed some shots.  But we didn't quit guarding; we did a pretty good job with our defense tonight, but at the end of the day, we came up on the short end of the stick."
 
The Hounds were led in scoring by Robinson, who finished with 16 points.  Cheatham added 12 points, while Brennan McElroy contributed eight points, six boards, three assists and three steals.
 
USI's Aaron Nelson, the reigning Division II Bulletin Player of the Month, kept his double-double streak alive with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  The 6-8 senior forward has recorded a double-double in every game this season.
 
UIndy has little time to rest as it returns to Indianapolis to host the Saint Joseph's Pumas Monday night at 7:45 p.m.  It will mark the Hounds' third game in five days.
 
 
Note:  Southern Indiana honored its 1994 NCAA national finalist team before the game, a team of which Gouard was a member ... USI's 44 FT attempts or the most by a UIndy opponent since Kentucky Wesleyn shot 45 FTs on Nov. 28, 2004