Eagles defeat Drury, 88-74
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – University of Southern Indiana senior center Mohamed Ntumba (Kinshasa, Congo) and junior guard Brandon Hogg (Edwardsville, Illinois) combined for 50 points as the 11th-ranked and second-seeded Screaming Eagles defeated Drury University, 88-74, in the semifinals of the GLVC Tournament at Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri. USI advances to the conference tournament championship game for the first time since 2007 when it won the title.
Ntumba scored 13 points in the first half and 12 in the second half before finishing the game with a career-high 25 points. He also recorded his 11th double-double of the year with a game-high 11 rebounds, while blocking four shots.
Hogg tied his career-high with 25 points, including 19 in the second half. He also matched a career-best with eight assists.
The Eagles (24-4) came out firing in the first half, hitting 73.3 percent from the field (11-15) in the first eight minutes to lead 27-19. Ntumba led the way in USI's early success with 10 points the first five minutes.
Drury (22-7), the third seed in the tournament, would fight back and cut the USI lead to 34-30. The Eagles regained control with a 14-8 run and ended the half with a 48-38 advantage. USI's largest lead of the half was 12 points, 48-36, in the final seconds before halftime.
The Eagles boosted the advantage right after the intermission to 14 points, 60-46, with 14:16 to play. The Panthers began to chip away at the lead as the Eagles encountered foul difficulty and cut their deficit to five points on three occasions.
Leading 66-61, USI used a 13-6 run with less than five minutes remaining to separate itself from Drury. Hogg would seal the victory in the final two minutes by connecting on five straight free-throws after missing four of his first six trips to the line earlier in the second half.
Ntumba and Hogg were joined in double-figure scoring by freshman forward Eduardo Gallina (Florianopolis, Brazil) and senior guard #C.J. Trotter# (Hopkinsville, Kentucky) with 11 points and 10 points, respectively.
The Eagles play second-ranked and top-seeded Bellarmine University Sunday at 1 p.m. for the GLVC Tournament championship.USI has won the GLVC Tournament title twice in the 13-year history of the tournament (2005 and 2007).
