SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The UIndy men's basketball team staved off a late push from Illinois Springfield Saturday evening, coming away with a 70-67 win in a defensive struggle inside The Recreation and Athletic Center.

Leading by three with 3.1 second on the clock, sophomore Jimmy King came up with a steal after Springfield's Wayde Smith attempted a baseball-style inbound pass on the final possession, sealing the Greyhounds' seventh consecutive win.

Although not as pretty as their recent blowout victories, the win moves UIndy to 10-7 overall and 7-2 in Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) play.

"We play a lot of games in practice that we call 'four-minute wars', and that's what it came down to in the end," Head Coach Stan Gouard told WICR afterward. "Kudos to our guys for hanging in there down the stretch."

UIS (7-11, 2-7) proved to be an unwelcome host, causing fits for the Hounds from start to finish. The Prairie Stars have never beaten the Hounds, and have not been in a close game with UIndy since the 2011 meeting, a 69-65 Greyhound win.

After enjoying stellar first-half shooting in each of the last four games, the Hounds struggled out of the gate Saturday against the Prairie Stars. UIndy began 6 of 17 overall, as the home side grabbed a 20-13 lead midway through the period.

A 10-2 Greyhound swing minutes later – capped by a traditional 3-point play from sophomore Jesse Kempson – gave UIndy its first lead at 30-27 with under two minutes to play.

UIS temporarily regained the lead, but Eric Davidson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 34-33 Greyhounds.

Despite Davidson's last-second bucket, UIndy finished a poor shooting half just 12 of 34 (35.3%) from the field and 5 of 17 (29.4%) from beyond the perimeter. The Hounds were able to force eight UIS turnovers, however, recording six team steals.

"We didn't shoot well, especially in the first half," Gouard noted. "We went back to our old ways there on offense. But we held them forty-one percent from the floor."

Both sides traded baskets for much of the second period, which seemed to have more of an up-tempo pace.

Eventually, UIndy was able to pull off an 11-2 run to take the biggest lead of the game by either team, 70-61, with 3:33 remaining. The Hounds went a perfect 3 for 3 from deep during the stretch.

UIndy wouldn't score again, however, and UIS reeled off a 6-0 run to make it a one possession game with roughly 90 seconds left.

The Hounds focused on draining the clock, and left the Prairie Stars with just 3.1 seconds for a final possession. Needing to go the length of the floor, UIS was unable to get a look at the basket after King came away with the steal.

Kempson finished with his fourth double-double of the season, logging 13 points and 10 rebounds, adding three assists, two steals and two blocks. His classmate King had 12 points, five boards and a team-high five assists.

Davidson tallied a team-high 17 points, also recording three rebounds and a pair of steals. Lawton had 12 points, tying a season high with four of the Hounds' 11 steals

The Hounds shot under 40 percent overall (24 of 61) and from 3-point range (11 of 30), but used active defense to force 15 UIS turnovers, which led to a 20-4 points-off-turnovers advantage. UIndy also coughed the ball up just seven times compared to 13 team assists.

Carrying a seven-game winning streak, the Greyhounds enter perhaps their toughest two-game stretch of the GLVC slate. UIndy faces a pair of nationally ranked rivals next week, hosting No. 15 Bellarmine Thursday, Jan. 26, and No. 9 Southern Indiana Saturday, Jan. 28.