CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The University of Southern Indiana men's basketball team played well in its first exhibition game of the season, but fell to the University of Illinois, 76-67, Tuesday night in Champaign, Illinois. The Screaming Eagles conclude the exhibition portion of the 2010-11 scheduled at Vanderbilt University November 8 at 7 p.m. in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Eagles were able to stay close for a majority of the first with the Illini leading by a slim two points throughout the first 14 minutes. Illinois started to pull away at 6:01 when it went on an 8-2 run to lead 35-25 and would extend the margin to as many as 13 points, 41-28.
USI cut the deficit back to nine points in the final minute of the opening half and trailed 41-32 at the intermission. Eagles' senior center
Mohamed Ntumba (Kinshasa, Congo) led USI in the scoring at halftime with 12 points, while freshman forward
Eduardo Gallina (Florianopolis, Brazil) came off the bench to drop in 11 points.
The Eagles started the second half with an 8-0 run to cut the Illini advantage to one, 41-40. Junior guard
Brandon Hogg (Edwardsville, Illinois) led the way with five of the eight points.
USI tied the score for the second time in the game, 47-47, with 14:14 left when senior guard #C.J. Trotter# (Hopkinsville, Kentucky) finished a fast break with a dunk. The tie was short lived as Trotter was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim and the Illini converted both free throws to take a 49-47 advantage.
Illinois, which is ranked is preseason ranked 13th in the NCAA Division I by the Associated Press, took that momentum swing on a 14-5 run to lead by nine, 61-52, with 7:16 left. USI would get to within five points one more time, but no closer.
Trotter led the Eagles overall with 19 points, 15 coming in the second half. Ntumba followed in the scoring column with 15 points, while Gallina and Hogg finished the game with 14 points and 10 points, respectively. Ntumba also led the team with 10 rebounds for a double-double.
