INDIANAPOLIS - The UIndy men's basketball team (11-6, 5-4 GLVC) rebounded from Thursday's loss to Truman with a key win over GLVC West member, Drury. The Greyhounds clung to a one-point lead at the break after a Trevor Lakes three-pointer at the buzzer, but pulled away late in the second half to overcome the Panthers, 91-82, in Nicoson Hall.
 
The Hounds have now beaten the Panthers in consecutive games for the first time in the teams' short history, and have been victorious in three of the past four contests.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Tate Hall scored the team's first six points of the game as the Greyhounds trailed by three at the first media timeout. Drury went on an 8-0 run from 14:21 to 12:40 before UIndy reclaimed the lead after a Jesse Kempson and-one layup. The Panthers got hot from the floor late in the first half, but the Greyhounds would not be deterred as they matched each basket the visitors scored.
 
Despite shooting half as many free throws in the first 20 minutes, Drury sunk 83.3 percent, including two with just five seconds left. After a timeout, beautiful passing was on display down the length of the court from Hall to Ajay Lawton to Lakes' swish at the horn.
 
The Hounds led 39-38 at the intermission, shooting just 42.4 percent from the field. However, the defense came to play, allowing the Panthers to shoot 14-of-35 from the floor and five-of-15 from behind the arc. UIndy scored nine points off the fast break and took advantage of Drury's 12 turnovers, scoring 13 points off of them.
 
The offense matched the defensive effort for the Hounds in the second half, shooting 58.3 percent from the floor. Eric Davidson hit his first three-pointer of the game four minutes into the half, stretching the home lead to eight at the media timeout. The Panthers inched within a point at the 12-minute mark, but would never take back the lead. The Greyhound went on an 11-2 run midway through the half, led by CJ Hardaway Jr. with four points.
 
Soon after Lawton made a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 12, the Panthers scored nine unanswered on two long balls with five minutes left. The Greyhounds were sent to the line 22 times in the second half, sinking 20 of the attempts, after going just six-for-12 in the first period. As Drury continued to fight to even the score, the Hounds had ice in their veins from the charity stripe to finish with the nine-point victory.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Tate Hall has scored 22 or more points the past three contests, averaging nearly 24 during that span. The sophomore recorded consecutive career-bests before today's game, and is now averaging 15.1 points per game to lead the team.
 
Ajay Lawton turned in another balanced effort in the win, adding six steals, five assists, and four rebounds to his 20-point score line. The senior went six-for-six from the free-throw line, including four in the final three minutes.
 
The Hounds held the seventh-ranked offense in the country to 82 points, 10.3 under its season average. They also forced 19 turnovers against Drury, the most the Panthers have surrendered all season.
 
With the team's 91 points, UIndy is now back to averaging over 80 points per game. It is the first time the Greyhounds scored 90+ points since they put 93 on the scoreboard against Quincy on January 4.
 
HOUND BYTES
Head coach Stan Gouard: "Drury runs a great motion [offense]. We did a great job on the center-line defense and we made sure where the shooters were, for the most part."
 
"We shortened our bench. We didn't play some guys longer minutes, specifically ours [big men], and that kept us fresher down the stretch. Everyone believed. We had a long meeting after our game the other night about things we needed to fix, and our guys did a great job of coming in and accepting the constructive criticism. My message was for them to look in the mirror, and I had to do that myself. It was everyone in this basketball family. We recognized what we needed to do to be better and we did that tonight."
 
"We wanted to keep Lawton and Hall in the game together as much as possible. Kempson and Dixon did a really good job of feeding off each other. They monitored minutes; if one got tired, we had the other ready to go. Having Hall and Lawton in there together really helps our energy. We did a really good job of getting the ball inside throughout the second half. Now we just have to keep this play up against Bellarmine [on Thursday]."
 
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds welcome in the No. 6 Bellarmine Knights, who have won three in a row since dropping its first contest of the season on January 13. The Knights defeated Missouri S&T, 85-50, earlier today in Louisville. Tip on Thursday is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. in Nicoson Hall.