EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball picked up a big victory on Senior Night, defeating Lindenwood University, 74-64, Saturday evening at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles go to 14-13 overall and 7-7 in the OVC, while the Lions are 9-18, 4-10 OVC.     
    
USI moves up into a tie sixth in the OVC standing, one game out of the four-way tie for second with four games to play in the regular season. The top eight teams in the OVC advance to the league's postseason tournament scheduled for March 1-4 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.  
 
The Eagles started slow, while the Lions got off to a quick start and had an early 18-8 lead with 13:55 left in the first half following a 10-2 run. USI closed the gap to four points, 22-18, on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Isaiah Swope (Newburgh, Indiana) with 9:41 on the clock.
 
After Lindenwood pushed its lead back to nine, 25-16, USI shrank the deficit to three points, 27-24, after a pair of free throws by senior forward Jacob Polakovich (Grand Rapids, Michigan), who had a team-best 12 points in the opening half. The three-point deficit would be as close as the Eagles would come in the first 20 minutes as the teams went into the intermission with the Lions leading 35-29.
 
The second half started very differently for the Eagles as they used an 8-2 run to knot the game at 37-37 before three minutes were gone on a Polakovich layup. USI would take its first lead since the opening bucket, 41-40, when senior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) threw down a dunk at the 15:30 mark.
 
After trading buckets and leads, USI went on a 7-0 run to lead 55-48. Freshman center Kiyron Powell (Evansville, Indiana) sparked the run with an old fashion three-point play and a pair free throws that were sandwiched around a pair of charity shots by Swope to give USI its largest lead to that point (seven points).
 
Lindenwood closed the gap to 62-60 with 3:26 to play when USI spun off 10-straight points to lead by 12, 72-60, with under a minute to play. The Eagles and Lions traded free throws in the final 30 seconds before USI closed out the 74-64 victory.
 
USI had three players reach double-digits in the scoring column, led by Polakovich's 23 points. The senior was a red hot nine-of-12 from the field and five-of-eight from the stripe, while grabbing a game-high nine boards.
 
Simmons and Swope followed with 17 points and 14 points respectively. Swop also had a game-high five assists.
 
 
Next Up For USI:    
USI hits the road for the next two games next week, beginning with its first-ever trip to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Little Rock, Arkansas.  
 
Little Rock saw its record go to 9-18, 5-9 in the OVC, after falling at the University of Tennessee at Martin, 81-64, this afternoon. The Trojans were led by senior guard Isaiah Palermo, who had 19 points.
 
USI won the first meeting of the series and in OVC play with a 74-67 victory at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Eagles were led by graduate forward Trevor Lakes with 22 points, while Polakovich had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. 
 
The road trip concludes February 18 at Southeast Missouri State University for a 4 p.m. contest in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  
 
The Redhawks saw their record go to 13-14, 8-6 OVC, following a loss to conference front-running Morehead State University, 65-59, at home today. SEMO was led by sophomore guard Phillip Russell, who had 20 points.
 
USI evened the all-time series with SEMO, 3-3, after winning the Eagles' OVC-opener, 86-81, at Screaming Eagles Arena. Eagles' Polakovich led USI to victory with his first 20-20 game of the season, 27 points and 26 rebounds.  
  
The games will be streamed on ESPN+ (with cable subscription) in addition to being heard on ESPN 97.7FM and 95.7FM The Spin.