INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy men's basketball team faced its share of adversity Thursday night, but they prevailed in a 90-80 victory against the visiting William Jewell Cardinals in Nicoson Hall.

Down by five at the half, the Greyhounds dropped 51 second-half points to rally back for the win, improving to 13-9 overall and 10-4 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.

Sophomore Jesse Kempson finished the night with a team-high 18 points and seven rebounds, and classmate Jimmy King added 11 points, six assists and five rebounds. As a team, UIndy shot an even 60 percent (33-55) overall, including a scorching 65.4% (17-26) in the second period.

"We didn't have the first half that we wanted, but the guys responded in the second half," Assistant Coach George Hemmingsen said. "We had a good talk in the locker room at half, and we fought hard coming out of the break."

William Jewell (6-15, 2-11) gave the Hounds all they could handle for 40 minutes, racking up 16 offensive boards and capitalizing with a plus-11 advantage in second-chance points. But the Cardinals were limited in the second half, shooting just 36.6% mostly due to UIndy's improved defense.

"Our biggest issue this year has been communication on the defensive end. If our guys talk on the defensive end good things will happen and we picked things up on that end in the second half."

The game began about as well as expected for the Hounds, who connected on seven of their first 10 shots to race out to a 15-6 lead and force an early timeout from William Jewell's coach Larry Holley.

Holley's words during the break must have hit home, because the Cardinals reeled off an 18-4 run – during which they went 6 for 6 from the field and 3 for 3 from deep – taking their first lead of the game at 27-24 midway through the period.

The visitors continued to maintain a slight edge the remainder of the half, benefitting greatly from the absence of UIndy juniors Eric Davidson and Alex Etherington, who saw limited action due to foul trouble.

On the strength of four separate runs of at least 6-0, the Cardinals carried a 44-39 lead into the halftime intermission. Although they shot 55 percent (16-29), the Hounds made eight fewer free throws and were out-rebounded over the opening 20 minutes.

UIndy finally gained traction with a 12-0 run early in the second half, with Etherington scoring half the Hounds' points as they grabbed a 10-point, 63-53 lead.

Instead of rolling over, however, the Cardinals swung back with an impressive 10-0 spurt to tie the game at 63 with 9:30 left.

On the ensuing possession, junior Roderick Davis knocked down a pair of free throws to give UIndy a lead that it would ultimately hold until the final buzzer.

Down the stretch the two sides traded buckets, as the Cardinals never let the Hounds pull away, primarily by crashing the offensive glass.

Freshman Micah Rosser eventually helped UIndy seal the win with two stellar defensive plays. Up six with under a minute remaining, Rosser grabbed a rebound and hit junior Ajay Lawton for a transition layup. On the next possession, Rosser stole the ball from William Jewell's leading scorer Patrick Whelan, finishing the play with a runaway dunk to put an exclamation point on the win.

UIndy flipped the script at the free throw line in the second half, going 14 of 16 while the Cardinals went to the line for only two attempts.

The Hounds finished with 54 points in the paint and 35 points from bench players, as 10 individuals contributed on the scoreboard.

Along with Kempson and King, Etherington and freshman Tate Hall finished in double figures with 13 points apiece.

UIndy returns to Skillman Court inside Nicoson Hall on Saturday, hosting Rockhurst at 3:15 p.m. ET.