Watson gets 100th GLVC victory

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The 17th-ranked University of Southern Indiana men's basketball team celebrated Homecoming with a 77-51 victory over Drury University Saturday afternoon at the Physical Activities Center. USI sees its record go to 21-2 overall and 11-2 in the GLVC, while Drury goes to 13-8 overall, 6-7 GLVC.   
 
The victory was Head Coach Rodney Watson's 100^th career win in GLVC action. Watson is 100-39 in eight years, a .719 winning percentage in the conference regular season.
 
The win also keeps USI in sole possession of second in the GLVC East Division, a game ahead of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis University and a game back of division front-running and eighth-ranked Bellarmine University. USI has five games remaining in the 2016-17 regular season, including a season-finale match-up at Bellarmine on February 23.
 
The Screaming Eagles battled through a tough shooting first half, gaining momentum with a 9-2 run in the final three minutes, to lead 30-24 at the intermission. USI, which had a pair of six point leads during the opening 20 minutes, saw the lead change hands eight times and the scored tied five times.
 
A big part of USI taking the lead into the locker room was rebounding. The Eagles swept the boards during the opening stanza at a 26-12 clip.
 
After Drury closed the halftime gap to one-point, 35-34, to start the second half, USI's offense came to life. The Eagles broke the game open with a 14-1 run to post their first 14-point lead of the game, 49-35, and would extend the lead to a game-high 26 points, in the 77-51 final.
 
USI shot 52.0 percent from the field in the second half (13-25), 77.8 percent from long range (7-9). The Eagles also won the battle of boards in the second half, 20-18, and closed out a 46-30 advantage on the glass in the contest.
 
Individually, senior guard/forward Jeril Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky) led the way with his sixth double-double of the year with a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) followed with 17 points, while junior guard Marcellous Washington (Lexington, Kentucky) closed out the double-digit scorers with 11 points. Washington has scored in double-digits in each of his last five games and is averaging 14.4 points per contest.
 
On the defensive end, USI junior center Carter Davis (Denver, Colorado) made his presence known with a career-high five blocks in 13 minutes of action.
 
The Eagles make their final weekend road swing next week when they visit the University of Missouri-St. Louis February 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Maryville University February 11 at 3:15 p.m. in St. Louis.
 
Following next week's road swing, the Eagles return to the PAC for their final regular season home games of 2016-17. The final home games are February 16 versus the University of Illinois Springfield and February 18 versus McKendree University. The USI-McKendree match-up will be Senior Day for the Eagles.