EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The UIndy men's basketball team (19-10) held a 10-point advantage at halftime on Thursday afternoon, but the fifth-seeded Drury Panthers (20-10) stormed back in the second half to down the Greyhounds, 71-65. The Hounds and Panthers kicked off the GLVC Championship Tournament on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
 
Marcus Latham and Trevor Lakes each scored 17 points to lead UIndy in scoring, while Jimmy King and Jesse Kempson tallied 12 apiece.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Greyhounds locked down on defense in the first 20 minutes, limiting the Panthers to just 33.3 percent from the floor, while shooting 13-23 to build the double-figure lead.
 
Drury quickly erased the Hounds' 37-27 halftime advantage with a 14-4 run to open the second half. Overall, the Panthers drilled eight-of-11 from 3-point range in the final 20 minutes. UIndy went scoreless for nearly six minutes late in the second half before King scored six straight points to keep the Greyhounds alive.
 
Lakes found an open look with five seconds remaining to put the Hounds down one, but rimmed out as the Panthers hit free throws thereafter to seal the win.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Kempson finished with 12 points, putting himself within four tallies of tying Darius Adams for 28th in career scoring.
 
Lakes' four 3-pointers gives him 87 in his sophomore campaign, just two shy from entering the top-10 for a single season.
 
The Hounds are now just 2-4 this season when scoring less than 70 points. However, UIndy held success limiting its opponents to within 79, dropping to 6-2 this season when doing so.
 
Drury all-conference first teamer Conley Garrison scored a game-high 20 points, including six 3-pointers.
 
HOUND BYTES
Head coach Stan Gouard on the outcome: "In the first half we locked down defensively and got into transition. We have up 27 points, and then the first four minutes of the second half we allowed 17. Our defense took a dive and that's very disappointing."
 
Takeaways for the regional next weekend: "Let's pray that we still deserve a spot there. We have to be tougher on defense."
 
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds have now put their fate into the hands of the selection committee for the NCAA Midwest Regional. The 64-team field, which will be announced in its entirety Sunday evening at 10:30 p.m., will begin regional action next Thursday from host campus sites.
 
Lewis sat atop the Midwest in yesterday's final poll before the selection show. The Hounds have been ranked sixth in each of the three in-season rankings this season.