BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The UIndy men's basketball team opened its season on Sunday afternoon against the Indiana Hoosiers in Assembly Hall. The Hounds held an early lead, but the Division I Hoosiers settled in defensively, leading to a 74-53 defeat for the visitors.
 
Senior Ajay Lawton paced the Hounds with 13 points on four-of-12 shooting, while also adding a team-high four assists. Devin Dixon led UIndy on the boards with 11 rebounds, while Eric Davidson pulled down five. Tate Hall added 11 points for the Hounds and Dixon contributed 10 to the scoreboard.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hounds jumped out to a 13-10 lead in the first half with Lawton totaling six of his points during that period. Davidson drilled his lone three-pointer of the afternoon that was setup by Trevor Lakes.
 
The Hoosiers buckled down on the defensive side of the ball, limiting UIndy to just four points over a 6:43 stretch before Lakes hit one from behind the arc to get the Hounds within eight of the hosts. UIndy trailed Indiana, 33-20, with a few minutes left in the half, but layups by Hall and Dixon cut the deficit to nine at the break.
 
The closest the Hounds got in the second half was after three minutes of play when Dixon laid the ball in to trail, 39-29. Hall had seven of his 11 points in the second half, while Lawton made both of his long-range jumpers in the final half. Miles Wayer hit a three-pointer with 1:17 remaining for the final UIndy points of the game.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
UIndy had just three second-chance points as Indiana controlled the boards with 16 offensive rebounds and a plus-16 overall. Dixon pulled down two of the team's five boards on the offensive side for the Hounds.
 
The Hounds hit shot 44.4 percent from behind the arc in the second half after shooting two-for-16 in the opening session. Five different Hounds made a three-pointer.
 
Only eight free throws were attempted by the visitors on the afternoon as the team only drew 13 foul calls on Indiana. Dixon and Lawton were the only two players to take a shot from the charity stripe, each ending with four.
 
HOUND BYTES
Head coach Stan Gouard: "I thought we played hard. We didn't play very smart, especially when we got into situations where we weren't scoring the ball. We gave up 17 points off the transition, which is unacceptable. These are things we need to work on, but there's a ton of positives from today, as well.
 
"Ajay did a very good job at making the transition from scoring guard to the point guard. He pick and chose his spots very well [when it came to shooting and passing], but we would like to get him off those ball screens and go downhill more.
 
"I'm really impressed with how Devin Dixon battled inside with their big guys. Eric, Tate, and CJ did a decent job defensively, but we do have to improve on the transition and talking on the scramble.
 
"With the makeup of our team, we have a lot of different tools. We got the open looks we wanted, but we just didn't convert [because] they broke us down off the bounce. I know the stats don't show it, but I think we competed. We didn't fall apart, especially when Indiana made its run. I loved the way we played the first 14 minutes; they did everything we asked them to do."
 
UP NEXT
UIndy will begin its regular reason this coming weekend as it welcomes Bellarmine, Northwood, and Saginaw Valley to Nicoson Hall for the first of the team's two GLVC/GLIAC challenges. The Hounds will tipoff against Northwood on Friday night at 5:30 p.m.