EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball could not hold off Tennessee State University in the second half and lost, 78-64, on the opening evening of the Ohio Valley Conference Championship at the Ford Center. The Screaming Eagles, the eighth seed, ends the season 8-24 overall, while the Tigers advance to Thursday with an 18-10 mark.
 
USI, which played without an ill junior guard and first-team All-OVC Jeremiah Hernandez (Chicago, Illinois), trailed by six early, 13-7, but rallied to tie the score at 19-19, when sophomore guard Jack Campion (Milton, Wisconsin) ended a 12-6 run with a three-point bomb with 8:23 to play in the half.
 
After the Tigers and Eagles traded buckets, junior guard/forward Javius Moore (McComb, Mississippi) put USI up two, 29-27, with 3:20 left before halftime on back-to-back three-pointers. USI sophomore guard Ryan Hall (Kettering, Ohio) would put the Eagles up three, 33-30, at the break with back-to-back two-point buckets.
 
USI, which shot 52.0 percent from the field as a team (13-25), was led by Moore and sophomore forward Kiyron Powell (Evansville, Indiana) with eight points each in the opening 20 minutes.  
 
The second half was TSU's turn to take command of the game. The Tigers methodically erased a seven-point Eagles' lead, 37-30, with a 16-3 run with 14 minutes to play, posting their own 46-40 advantage.
 
USI would stay close, closing the gap to one, 49-48, with 10:52 left and two points, 59-57, with 5:19 to play before TSU sealed game with a final 19-7 run up to the final score of 78-64.   
 
The USI offensive attack, which also was without second leading scorer sophomore guard/forward AJ Smith (Edwardsville, Illinois) after he suffered an ankle injury 50 seconds into the game, was led by the 14-point performance of Hall. Hall was five-of-eight from the field, including three three-pointers, and one-of-three from the line.
 
Campion followed with 13 points, while Moore finished out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.