SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – As the offense was left frozen in the first half, senior Marcus Latham and the No. 15 UIndy men's basketball (8-1) outscored Lake Superior State (5-5) by 17 after the break to surge to a 73-70 in-region victory on Tuesday evening.
 
Latham notched 19 of his 28 points in the second half to lead the Greyhounds in the victory, while Jordache Mavunga (15) and Trevor Lakes (14) also finished in double figures.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Trailing by 11 with just over 10 minutes left, UIndy orchestrated a 27-13 run to close out the game with the three-point victory. Lakes followed a pair of free throws by Jacob Polakovich with a 3-ball to knot the game at 68 apiece with 1:41 remaining before giving the Greyhounds the lead for good moments later with a tally of his own.
 
Latham forced his way through traffic to score his 27th and 28th points of the night to extend the lead to three with 10 ticks left, with Cory Miller Jr. sealing the game with a layup to counter Lake State's attack.
 

?? | WOW WHAT A WIN!@UIndyMBB pulls out a gutsy 73-70 dub at Lake State, with 1??9?? second-half points out from the senior Marcus Latham! pic.twitter.com/mI5rfUjlJr

— UIndy Athletics (@UIndyAthletics) December 18, 2019

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Mavunga scored 11 of his 15 in the opening 20 minutes, providing nearly half of the team's points in the offensively-challenged first half.
- It took awhile for Lakes to get going, but he heated up late to finish with 14 points and nine rebounds.
- Latham upped his season-high game load on Tuesday, playing more than 34 minutes on his way to his game-best 28 points.
- After allowing Lake State to shoot 47.4 percent from 3-point range in the first half, the Greyhound defense limited the Lakers' deep ball attack to a 3-for-12 effort after halftime.
 
MORE NOTES
Freshman Ben Nicoson drew the start at point guard for UIndy in the absence of redshirt-senior Jimmy King … Polakovich provided a dunk with five minutes left to continue the hot offensive second half for the Greyhounds … UIndy shot 64.3 percent from the floor in the second half, after a miniscule 27.6 percent to begin the game … Lake State's Ke'Montrece Collins led the Lakers with 17 points and six rebounds.
 
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds will head into the holiday break with an 8-1 record after picking up their fourth win over a team from the state of Michigan. UIndy will host Lewis on Jan.2 at Nicoson Hall, which will be the start of 19 straight Great Lakes Valley Conference contests before postseason play begins in March.