The Online Reflector

The University of Indianapolis men’s basketball team (15-4, 7-4 GLVC) traveled to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on Feb. 2, losing to the Rangers 77-71.

In the first half, the Greyhounds trailed the Rangers for a majority of the half until junior guard Tyrae Robinson hit a 3-pointer with 4:56 remaining that sparked a UIndy run that had them up by six at the half.

UIndy’s lead disappeared quickly in the second half, after the Rangers were able to reclaim the lead by one point with 15:39 remaining. Following a 3-pointer  by junior guard Reece Cheatham, putting the Greyhounds back up by two points with 14:08 remaining, the Rangers reclaimed the lead with 12:29 remaining and never let go of it. The Rangers never led by more than double digit points in the second half, but held off the Greyhounds for the win.

The Greyhounds shot over 50 percent in the first half, but failed to do so in the second, leading them to the loss. Robinson led the Greyhounds with 21 points, while senior forward James Hollowell added ten points for the Greyhounds.

UIndy hosted the Flyers of Lewis University on Jan. 31, winning the game 71-64.

During the first half, the Greyhounds put up the first points of the game off a layup from Robinson in less than half a minute, and the Greyhounds never let go of the lead from there. Throughout the half, the Greyhounds were able to maintain their lead over the Flyers, allowing them to only pull within one point with 1:10 left on the game clock. At the end of the half, the Greyhounds led by a score of 28-24.

In the second half, the Greyhounds continued to score against Lewis, extending their lead to as much as 14 points over the Flyers off a 3-pointer by Robinson with 8:39 remaining in the game. Lewis fought back to make the point differential only three points multiple times under the three-minute mark. With 39 seconds remaining, sophomore guard/forward Brennan McElroy’s dunk secured the victory for the Greyhounds. Following a few desperation fouls by Lewis, UIndy converted on the necessary free throws to win the game.

Three Greyhounds finished with double figures in points and were led by Cheatham, who finished the game with 21 points, including three 3-pointers. Overall, the Greyhounds succeeded in second  chance points, with 15, and were able to capitalize on the Flyers’ poor ball security by scoring 23 points off of turnovers.

Head Men’s Basketball Coach Stan Gouard said the Greyhounds’ defensive plan heading into the game with the Flyers paid off for the team.

“We pressured them a lot more. We trapped them in the first half, and in the second half we made an adjustment and stopped trapping them because we thought they would turn the corner,” Gouard said. “When we trapped the ball screens, it put those guys in a situation where they had to get rid of the basketball, and luckily our rotations were pretty good in the first half where we got steals off of them.”

During the previous week, the Greyhounds played the Knights of Bellarmine University on Jan. 26 in Nicoson Hall for “Pack the House” Night, but failed to get the victory, losing 77-68.

In the first half of the game, the lead changed five times, with three ties. The Knights’ largest lead of the half came off a 3-pointer with 15:13 remaining, putting the Knights up by four points. The Greyhounds responded with a 3-pointer of their own at the 13:58 mark by Cheatham, giving the Greyhounds the lead 14-12. After a trade in the lead following Cheatham’s 3-pointer, the Greyhounds took the lead once again off a layup by junior guard Jared Grady, which put the Greyhounds up for the rest of the first half. The Hounds ended the half ahead of the Knights 29-28.

In the second half, both sides traded the lead back and forth for ten minutes until Bellarmine took the lead for the rest of the game off back-to-back made free throws, putting the Knights up 50-49 with 9:53 left in the game. The Greyhounds fought back, however, after allowing the Knights to pull away by as many as 10 points, trimming the lead to as low as five points following a 3-pointer by Cheatham once again with 21 seconds remaining in the game. Still, the Knights were able to close the game out with their free throw shooting and claimed the victory over the Greyhounds.

 

Following the loss, Gouard said that he was pleased with the effort of his team but not the result of the game.

“We didn’t do a good job on defense,” Gouard said. “They went to the free throw line 36 times, making 33 of those 36. Other than that, I thought we played hard. We just weren’t very smart and didn’t execute down the stretch.”

Offensively, the Greyhounds were able to get double-digit points from four different players, including Cheatham, who led the team with 18 points; Robinson, who had 16 points, and McElroy, along with Hollowell, who rounded it out with ten points each. Both teams shot well from the free throw line, with Bellarmine hitting 91.7 percent of their free throws and UIndy hitting 72 percent of theirs.

Earlier that week, the Greyhounds began their three straight home game stretch with a different outcome against the McKendree University Bearcats, coached by the all-time wins leader in college basketball history, Harry Statham. The Hounds won the contest 100-66.

The Greyhounds shot above 50 percent from both inside and outside the arch and the free throw line, and went up by as much as 35 points multiple times in the second half. The Greyhounds gave their starters a break in the game, with 75 of their points coming from their bench.

Freshman guard Quinten Hunter led the Greyhounds in points,  contributing 22 points to the UIndy victory. Hunter said that his performance came from the way he felt heading into the game that night.

“What it really was, is me and my team came in earlier today, and we got up a lot of shots. We ran through game shots, and I was just feeling it,” Hunter said. “I had a good warm up.”

The Greyhounds will travel to Bellarmine University for their rematch with the Knights on Feb. 7 and will finish up the week with a trip to McKendree University on Feb. 9. Both games tip off at 7:45 p.m.