Greyhounds defeat Mt. Vernon Nazarene
The University of Indianapolis Greyhounds defeated The Mt. Vernon Nazarene Cougars on Dec. 12 in Nicoson Hall. A 108-74 victory for the Greyhounds improved their overall record to 5-4.
Senior guard Darius Adams led the Greyhound charge, posting 23 points, six assists, four rebounds and four steals for the night. Adams went nine for 10 from the foul line.
University of Indianapolis’ junior forward Wilbur O’Neal, attempts a lay-up against Mt. Vernon Nazarene.Photo by Kayla Prosser.
Junior forward Wilbur O’Neal and junior guard Cory Zackery each earned 19 points for the Greyhound offense and senior forward DeWann Squires made three of four three-pointers, one field goal, and went four for four from the foul line to net 15 UIndy points.
UIndy ran away with the first half earning a 24 point lead, 51-27, before half time. They held Mt. Vernon Nazarene to a 39.1 field goal shooting percentage.
The Greyhounds maintained the lead in the second half, shooting 54.8 percent and 80 percent from the foul line.
UIndy earned 37 total rebounds for the game and went 28 for 34 from the free throw line.
On Dec. 6, UIndy defeated King College 92-82 to improve to 4-2 overall. O’Neal scored 27 points and rebounded six times and Adams scored 24 points and had five rebounds and five assists. Moss scored 16 points and had nine assists and seven rebounds, coming close to a triple-double.
“A lot of credit goes to guys like Adrian Moss. He did a great job of distributing the basketball and knowing where to find guys against the press,” head men’s basketball coach Stan Gouard said . “He found O’Neal a number of times when he broke down the press or broke down his player he got the ball to the right person’s hands. If he can continue to do that, to take care of players like he did in this game I think we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”
The Greyhounds went on a late run in the first half to gain a 14 point lead at halftime. The lead grew to 19 in the second half.
University of Indianapolis’ sophomore Jarret Hamilton evades the Mt.Vernon Nazarene defender. Photo by Kayla Prosser.
The Greyhounds improved to 2-1 with a 103-79 defeat of Wilberforce on Nov. 27.
Seven UIndy players posted scores in the double digits, with junior guard Cory Zackery leading the charge with six three-pointers.
Three freshmen, Leland Brown, Cody Vest and Jarrett Hamilton posted 14 points and freshman center Cody Sarrazin brought another 11 points home for the Greyhounds.
Wilberforce kept up, trailing by 11 at halftime. In the second half, the Greyhounds broke away with 9:37 left in play and the Wilberforce Bulldogs trailed by at least 20 for the remainder of the game.
UIndy hosted Brescia University on Nov. 29 and earned a 117-63 victory to move up to 3-1 overall. Adams, and a preseason All-American earned UIndy 24 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals for the night.
“He’s a scoring machine,” Gouard said. “Darius can really explode offensively.”
O’Neal played his first game of the season, contributing 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Sarrazin improved to 13 points and Squires scored 11 points. UIndy built the lead against the Brescia Bearcats early in the first half and built it up to 50 late in the second half.
The Greyhounds then faced 4-0 Northern Kentucky University, ranked 20th, on the road on Dec. 4. The first conference game of the season ended in a UIndy loss, 69-87. O’Neal posted 17 points, making seven of 10 field goals in the second half. Adams earned 15 points, shooting 90 percent from the foul line.
The Greyhounds held two Northern Kentucky Norse top scorers, senior guards Malcom Elewby and Josh Tabb, to only 13 points total.
“We shut down their two best players but the rest of their team killed us,” junior guard Adrian Moss said. “It was a case of us just not taking other players seriously. We knew the rest of their players could shoot and if we let them get going, it would be a long night.”
The Norse offense was led by Chris Knight with 27 points. Knight averages 11.1 points per game, and Shannon 7.6.
NKU shot 55.8 percent.
“We should have shut them down and it just didn’t happen,” Moss said.
Gouard attributed the loss to a lack of awareness on the court.
“We didn’t do a good job of knowing where the shooters were. We didn’t do a good job of rebounding on the defensive end. And those things came back to haunt us late in the basketball game,” Gouard said.
UIndy will travel to Florida for the Courtyard by Marriott Holiday Classic on Dec. 18 and 19.
