UIndy savors home court advantage
The University of Indianapolis men’s basketball team defeated No. 8 Southern Indiana (17-4, 9-4 GLVC) 65-59 on Feb. 4.
Sophomore forward Cody Vest displays intense emotion as he fights off a defender and dribbles towards the basket for a layup. Photo by Victoria Jenkins
USI scored the first two points and led a majority of the game.
With 1:31 left in regulation, sophomore guard Reece Cheatham scored a 3-pointer and put the Greyhounds on top, 61-59. UIndy continued to build the lead as the team went on a 4-0 run to win the game.
The Greyhounds fell 84-67 to No. 7 Kentucky Wesleyan (17-3, 9-3 GLVC) on Feb. 2. Cheatham scored a career-high 29 points for the Greyhounds.
The game sported 49 fouls and 61 free throws from both schools combined.
Sophomore forward Leland Brown also scored in double digits, adding 10 points to the score cards. However, leading-scorer senior guard Adrian Moss was held to two points for the night.
The Panthers scored the first five points of the game, but a jumper by Cheatham gave the Greyhounds’ their only lead of the game.
The Panthers scored a 3-pointer at the start of an 11-0 run and kept the lead the rest of the game.
With a home court advantage, the Greyhounds beat the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (8-11, 1-10 GLVC) 86-73 on Jan. 28.
The game was a high-scoring one, with Moss scoring 28 points and Cheatham scoring 26 points for the Greyhounds. Although the starting lineup was changed with sophomore center Joe Daniels starting in place of senior center Wilbur O’Neal, the team was able to come back after the loss they had at Lewis University on Jan. 26.
“We’re not the greatest defensive team, but we can score the basketball. We want to speed teams up,” said Head Coach Stan Gouard. “Parkside is a team who wanted to walk the ball up the court a lot, so we wanted to get them out of their comfort zone and speed the game up.”
Parkside scored the first six points of the game, until the Greyhounds rebounded with a 9-0 run to take the lead. Eventually, the Greyhounds led by 16 at halftime, 52-36.
“One of the main keys [of the game] was moving the ball around on the offense,” Cheatham said.
Gouard said that making the shots also played a large role in how the team played the game. Wisconsin-Parkside was able to cut its deficit to 11 at the beginning of the second half. UIndy returned with an 18-8 run taking its largest lead of 21 points with 9:17 left in the half.
The Greyhounds ended the game with a 13 point lead over Parkside.
“With eight players, it’s kind of held us back a little bit because we’re playing so many minutes,” Moss said.
The Greyhounds ended the game scoring 12 of 22 three-pointers and 14 of 19 free throws.
Moss came out with seven assists, four rebounds and three steals, in addition to his 28 points for the team. Cheatham finished with four assists, three rebounds and three steals in addition to being the second-highest scorer of the game, giving the team 26 points. Both made five 3-pointers to help lead the way to victory for the Greyhounds.
UIndy will be on the road Feb. 9 to play at No. 15 Northern Kentucky.
