FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 78, USI 47
BOX SCORE (HTML)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Rough starts to each half grounded the University of Southern Indiana men's basketball team as it lost a 78-47 exhibition game at the University of Tennessee Thursday evening in Knoxville, Tennessee. USI finishes its exhibition season 0-2 against its Division I opponents, while Tennessee is 2-0 against its Division II foes.
The Screaming Eagles were cold out of the gate from the field, hitting only two-of-10 from the field and falling behind 20-5. USI rebounded midway through the first half, hitting three of the next six shots and cut the deficit to 24-15 with 7:55 remaining in the opening stanza.
The final seven minutes of the first half were nearly even with the Volunteers outscoring the Eagles, 16-12, and taking a 40-27 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
In the second half, the Volunteers came out smoking from the field, hitting six of their first nine shots and went on a 14-4 run to take command, 54-31. Tennessee did not look at back at this point, building a lead of as many as 33 and cruised to the 78-47 win.
USI finished the contest hitting 35.1 percent from the field (20-57) and did not find the range from beyond the three-point arc, going 0-11. Tennessee also out rebounded USI, 56-37.
Individually, senior forward
Aaron Nelson (Chicago Heights, Illinois) led the way for USI with nine first half points. Nelson missed the second half with cramps.
Junior guard
Gavin Schumann (Cincinnati, Ohio) followed Nelson in the scoring column with eight points and three assists, while junior forward
Alex Marzette (Racine, Wisconsin) dropped in seven points.
On the board, junior forward
Austin Davis (Freeport, Illinois) led the Eagles with six rebounds.
The Eagles open the 2013-14 regular season November 19 when they travel to Owensboro, Kentucky, to meet Kentucky Wesleyan College for a non-conference game. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
