BOXSCORE: USI 80, Lewis 57
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. — The 2nd-ranked University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team won its nation’s-best 19th-straight game with an 80-57 win at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. USI, which has won its last six on the road, raised its record to an NCAA-best 19-0 and 10-0 in the GLVC, while Lewis falls to 12-9, 4-8 GLVC.
Top-ranked Arkansas Tech University, which was tied with USI at 18-0, had its game at Christian Brothers University on Saturday postponed to Monday due to the winter storm.
The Screaming Eagles soared out to a 13-point halftime lead after hitting 60 percent from the field (18-30) in the opening 20 minutes. USI led by as many as 18-points, 40-22, with 2:29 left before the intermission.
USI senior forward Tyrone Bradshaw (Cincinnati, Ohio) led the Eagles with a perfect five-for-five in the first half and led all scorers with 10 points. The halftime lead was the first for the Eagles in four games, while the shooting performance was a team best since the record-setting game at Maryville University.
After halftime, the Eagles soared out of the locker room and quickly extended the lead to 22 points twice in the first seven minutes of the second half. The Flyers cut into the Eagles’ lead, shrinking the margin to 15 points, 58-43, after holding USI without a point for four minutes.
USI responded with a 7-0 run to get back to a 22-point advantage, 67-45. Lewis chipped away at the USI lead once again, cutting the margin to 14 points, 67-53, before the Eagles sealed the 80-57 victory with a 13-4 run.
Four Eagles finished the game with double-figures in scoring, led by the 17-point performance of senior guard Jamar Smith (Peoria, Illinois). Bradshaw followed Smith with 14 points, while junior center Mohamed Ntumba (Kinshasa, Congo) and senior forward Isaac Stoll (Washington, Indiana) had 12 points and 10 points, respectively. Stoll’s 10 points was a career-high for the senior.
USI also got back on track on the boards and outrebounded Lewis, 34-21. This was the first time in three games, that the Eagles have outrebounded their opponent. Ntumba led the way for Eagles with six rebounds.
After a month away from home, USI returns to the friend surrounding of the Physical Activities Center February 4 when it starts homecoming week by hosting the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The USI Homecoming game is February 6 when Rockhurst University visits the Eagles.