INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy men's basketball team began regular season action on Friday evening in Nicoson Hall against the Northwood Timberwolves, but a late basket by the visitors sealed the fate of the Hounds as they suffered a 73-71 defeat.
 
The Hounds have been sure-handed in the past seven seasons from Nicoson, racking up an 82-15 record on their home court. The loss tonight is just the fifth at home since the 2014-15 season.
 
Eric Davidson led UIndy with 24 points in the loss, as the senior was 2-for-4 from three-point range and a perfect 14-for-14 from the charity stripe. After playing well in the exhibition at Indiana, Devin Dixon translated that play into a double-double with 18 points and 13 boards. Ajay Lawton contributed 15 points for the Hounds.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Davidson nailed a three-pointer early in the half, but Northwood shot 40 percent from long range to neutralize a strength of the Hounds. UIndy trailed by as many as nine points early in the opening half, but a three-point play by Lawton sparked a 9-0 run to even the score with the Timberwolves at 20 apiece. Dixon laid one in with 2:26 remaining in the half, which Lawton followed with a steal and deuce for the Hounds to lead, 33-30.
 
CJ Hardaway Jr. scored his third and fourth point of the first half with under a minute remaining, and UIndy led, 35-31 at the break. Northwood held the edge on the boards, 21-17, but the hosts had five offensive rebounds with Dixon leading the way with three.
 
UIndy protected the ball the entire game, totaling just four turnovers each half, but the balanced scoring attack by Northwood would eventually be the demise of the Hounds. After the Hounds grew their lead to seven after a Hardaway score, the Timberwolves began their comeback with a 15-7 run to take their first lead in nearly 18 minutes at the 5:23 mark in the second half.
 
Lawton scored six straight points for UIndy to lead, 69-68, with just over a minute to go, and a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left gave the Hounds a 71-70 advantage. Northwood drove down the floor and ate 12 second of clock before a layup and a foul shot gave it a two-point lead. The inbound pass went to Lawton, ran down the floor and launched a three-pointer, but the shot fell just short as the buzzer sounded.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Hounds had more steals (nine) than turnovers (eight) on the evening, while also forcing 17 turnovers against the Timberwolves. As a result, UIndy attempted 20 more free throws (34 to 14), sinking 73.5 percent of the shots.
 
Dixon's double-double was the first of its kind (points and rebounds) since the season finale last year against St. Joseph's College. The senior's 13 rebounds is the most since Jesse Kempson had 13 on January 7 at Maryville.
 
Hardaway Jr. added nine points to the box score in his Greyhound debut. The Indianapolis native shot four-for-10 from the field and added three points and an assist. The junior was an all-GLVC second-teamer as a member of St. Joseph's College in 2016-17.
 
Northwood dominated in bench points with the 35-5 advantage as 11 different Timberwolves scored on the evening. The Hounds scored 14 points off Timberwolves' turnovers, while the teams each had 26 points in the paint.

HOUND BYTES
Head coach Stan Gouard: "We did a lot of uncharacteristic things tonight. We couldn't finish at the rim; we left 18 points at the rim on point-blank layups. Our gameplan was to give it to Devin inside, and we did a good job at getting to the free throw line, but couldn't capitalize down the stretch."

"We shot 20 more free throws then them, and usually when that happens you're going to win the game. We didn't finish tonight, and they made more aggressive plays as the game wore on. They out-scored us on the fast break, and had 35 bench points to our five. That was the major difference in the game."

"It's a tough loss, but we're going to go back to the board tomorrow and be ready for Saginaw."
 
UP NEXT
UIndy concludes the weekend from Nicoson Hall tomorrow evening at 5:30 p.m. against Saginaw Valley. The Cardinals dropped their opener to Bellarmine earlier in the day on Friday in Nicoson, 83-75.