SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The University of Southern Indiana men's basketball team continued to have trouble on Thursdays, falling to University of Illinois Springfield, 86-81, tonight in Springfield, Illinois. USI, which has lost its last six Thursday games, watched its record fall to 16-10 overall and 8-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while Illinois Springfield went to 11-15, 5-11 GLVC.
 
Thursday continues to haunt the Screaming Eagles this year as they fall to 2-6 in the first conference game of each week, while going 6-1 on Saturdays in league play.
 
Despite the loss, USI can still clinch a GLVC Tournament first round home game with a win Saturday or a loss by Rockhurst University, which lost tonight to Quincy University, 79-74. The Eagles have a one-game lead and the tie-breaker over Rockhurst with two games to play for right to host a first round home game.
 
USI jumped out to an early 13-5 lead in the opening half, but went cold from the field and got into early foul trouble. The Eagles, as a team, shot 35.1 percent from the field (13-37) and 25 percent from long range (5-20) in the first 20 minutes.
 
While the Eagles were cold from the field, the Prairie Stars were red hot. Illinois Springfield shot 60.9 percent from the field (14-23) and 44.4 percent from downtown (4-9).
 
Fouls plagued the Eagles as junior guard Jeril Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky) played only two minutes in the first half, getting a pair of fouls early. Junior forward T.J. Tisdell (Cape Girardeau, Missouri) joined Taylor on the bench and missed a significant part of the first half with two fouls, while sophomore center Davis Carter (Denver, Colorado) picked up three fouls.
 
In the second half, USI continued to fight and stayed close until it could make a run at Illinois Springfield. After the Eagles missed their first five three-point field goal attempts of the second half, junior guard Travis Britt (Rantoul, Illinois) and junior guard Cortez Macklin (Louisville, Kentucky) combined for three-straight long-range bombs, the first two giving USI brief 62-61 and 65-64 leads with six minutes left. Those two leads would be the only time in the second half that the Eagles would have the advantage.
 
Following USI's brief offensive surge, the Prairie Stars would build and nurse a three to six point lead through the final minutes before settling for the 86-81 win.
 
Individually for USI, Tisdell finished the game with a team-high 19 points, one shy of tying a season-high for the second-straight game, and grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds. The junior forward, who recorded his fourth double-double of the season, was seven-of-10 from the field and five-of-eight from line.
 
Freshman guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) followed Tisdell with 17 points before fouling out. Taylor and Britt joined the double-digit scorers with 13 points each, while Macklin was the final Eagles to reach double-figures with 10 points.
 
The Eagles conclude their final road trip of the regular season Saturday at 3 p.m. when they visit McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois. The Bearcats saw their record fall to 12-12, 5-11 GLVC after losing to Bellarmine University at home tonight, 95-65.
 
USI increased its all-time series lead to 10-3 after posting an 89-61 victory over McKendree in December. The Eagles were led by the 15-point effort of Britt and the 13-point game by junior guard Bobo Drummond (Peoria, Illinois). USI also holds a 5-1 advantage in games at McKendree since 2000.
 
Following this week's road swing, The Eagles host its regular season finale and Senior Day February 25 when Bellarmine University comes to visit the Physical Activities Center for a 7:30 p.m. contest. The GLVC Tournament is set to begin February 28 with first games at campus sites.