INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy men's basketball team did not disappoint in its debut as the No. 1 team in Division II.  The top-ranked Greyhounds (16-0, 8-0 GLVC) handed visiting McKendree an 87-56 defeat Thursday night, shooting 52 percent from the field while forcing 19 Bearcat turnovers.
 
Senior Joe Lawson again led the way with a team-high 21 points in just 23 minutes of play.  Senior Brennan McElroy amassed 14 points, six rebounds and four steals; junior Jordan Loyd had 11 points and five boards; while senior Dai-Jon Parker added 10 points, six assists and three steals.
 
UIndy fed the post early and often, racking up 26 points in the paint before the half.  Lawson was the main benefactor, as the 6-7 forward racked up 15 points before the break.
 
Nevertheless, the Bearcats (8-8, 1-7) hung with the bigger and more athletic Hounds for the majority of the first half.
 
"I was disappointed in the way we started the game," UIndy head coach Stan Gouard told WICR.  "We didn't have any energy to start.  I thought the offense was stagnant; we didn't have enough fast break points at halftime."
 
The Greyhounds led just 21-20 with five-and-a-half minutes left in the half before finishing the period with a 20-8 run.  UIndy forced five turnovers in the final two minutes, scoring buckets on all five of them. 
 
Senior Kendall Vieke accounted for five points in that span, including a corner 3-pointer in the final minute.
 
Out of the break, the Greyhounds pushed the margin to 22 by the first media and quickly to 30 with 13:26 to go.  Not long after that, most of the UIndy starters were lifted from the game.
 
The UIndy bench took advantage by generating 20 points in the second half, outscoring their McKendree counterparts 27-4 for the game.  Freshman Eric Davidson nailed three triples down the stretch to lead the reserves with nine points.  Fellow-freshmen Martyce Kimbrough and Nik Maric also got in the scoring column with four and two points, respectively.
 
After the game, Gouard noted that he liked what he saw out of his bench.
 
"We want to make sure that we play these young guys," said Gouard, "give them an opportunity to get some minutes because you never know.  When you start playing in the postseason, you might have games on Thursday, Friday and Sunday so these guys have to be ready to go, and I thought tonight they were pretty good for us."
 
Saturday afternoon marks the end of a four-game homestand for the Greyhounds.  UIndy hosts Illinois Springfield at 3:15 p.m.