EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Southern Indiana men's basketball team celebrated homecoming with an 81-76 victory over the University of Indianapolis Saturday afternoon at the Physical Activities Center. USI raises its record to 12-9 overall and 6-7 in the GLVC, while UIndy goes to 12-9 overall, 6-7 GLVC.
The win breaks USI's five-game losing streak to the GLVC East Division. USI had not defeated a team from the East since starting conference play with a 79-77 win at Kentucky Wesleyan College.
The Screaming Eagles were led to the victory by the outstanding performance of senior forward
Norman Plummer (Cincinnati, Ohio) and senior guard
Tyson Schnitker (Robinson, Illinois). Plummer dropped in a team-high 25 points and grabbed a team-best nine rebounds to lead the way.
Schnitker followed Plummer in the scoring column with 23 points and tied a season-high with five rebounds.
The senior pair were followed in the scoring column by junior forward
Anthony Pimble (Bronx, New York) and sophomore guard
Darren Cloud (Evansville, Indiana) with 14 points and 10 points, respectively. Pimble also followed Plummer on the boards with six rebounds.
With the exception of an 8-5 Greyhound lead with 16:27 left in the first half, the Eagles led from start to finish. USI had a ten-point, 36-26, lead at the intermission and led by as many as 12 points, 32-20, during the first half.
UIndy made a game of it in the second half, outscoring USI, 50-45. The Greyhound would cut the lead down to as few as five points three times in the final minute, but the Eagles would hold on for the victory.
USI resumes the four-game homestand next week when it hosts Rockhurst University on February 14 and 11th-ranked Drury University on February 16.