The Online Reflector

After trailing 48-37 at the half, the University of Indianapolis men’s basketball team improved their record to 2-0 on Saturday, Nov. 16, after defeating the Northwood University Timberwolves 88-79.
It was a story of two halves for the Greyhounds, as their shooting percentages increased much higher in the second half.
In the first half, the Greyhounds shot only 44 percent from the field, but in the second half shot 65 percent, hitting 21-of-32 shots.
The Greyhounds also out-ran the Timberwolves on the court, scoring 16 of their points on the fast break, compared to the Timberwolves’ three points.
After trailing in the first half, it took nearly a quarter of the second half to erase the 11-point deficit, after junior forward/center Joe Lawson hit a jumper with 14:43 remaining to give the Greyhounds a two-point lead.
The Greyhounds never looked back from that point, and established their first double-digit lead of the game after senior forward Leland Brown made a layup with 7:48 to go, putting UIndy up by 10 points.
The Greyhounds’ largest lead came after senior guard Reece Cheatham hit a 3-pointer with 3:55 remaining, that gave the Greyhounds a 13-point advantage.
Cheatham led the Hounds in scoring for the night, posting 24 points, while Brown contributed with 21 points.
The Greyhounds began their regular season the previous weekend on Saturday, Nov. 9, at home against the Cincinnati Christian University Eagles, winning 80-77.
Lawson led the way for UIndy in its victory, finishing with 22 points and grabbing eight rebounds. It was Lawson’s second-straight week leading the team in scoring, something he attributed to what the team worked on in practice.
“Coach Gouard really wanted to emphasize getting it into the post,” Lawson said. “They got me the ball, and I was able to score a little bit off of it.”
Early in the first half, the Greyhounds struggled to pull away from the Eagles, as CCU kept the score within single-digit points throughout the majority of the half.
The Greyhounds claimed their first double-digit lead, 33-23, following a layup by junior guard/forward Brennan McElroy off of a steal with 7:07 remaining in the half. Despite allowing the Eagles to close the deficit to within three points, the Greyhounds maintained their lead headed into halftime, 42-35.
In the second half, the Eagles continued to give the Greyhounds all they could handle, keeping the score within a reasonable distance.
The Hounds never pulled ahead by more than 13 points, and although they continued to score, the Eagles’ offense stuck right with them.
Fighting their way back as time ran down, the Eagles reduced the deficit to one point following a 3-pointer with 18 seconds remaining. Then with no shot clock remaining, the Eagles were forced to foul the Greyhounds to stop the clock.
After being intentionally fouled, Cheatham delivered two crucial free throws that put the Greyhounds up by three again. The Eagles missed the last-second 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded, and the Greyhounds claimed the victory.
Following this first victory of the regular season, Head Men’s Basketball Coach Stan Gouard said the Eagles had improved compared to previous years when they faced them.
“They’ve gotten better than last year, but we didn’t do anything on the defensive end that we wanted to,” Gouard said. “Those guys just stuck to their game plan, and we didn’t. We just did not do anything that we wanted to do.”
The Hounds will be back in action at home this Saturday, Nov. 23, against the Malone University Pioneers. Game time is set for 3 p.m.