Tied with seconds left on the clock, senior guard Lawrence Thomas attempted a 3-pointer and missed, but junior Gavin Schumann rebounded and laid it up at the buzzer.USI knocked out the Bellarmine Knights 66-68 in overtime Monday night at Bellarmine, which ended a six-game road losing streak in Knights Hall.
“It was a terrific atmosphere, an outstanding college game,” said men’s basketball Head Coach Rodney Watson. “You don’t get to be in many of those. I told the guys before the game, ‘This is what you think it will be like all the time in college. But it’s not.’”
USI outrebounded Bellarmine 54-34 and also outshot the Knights during overtime.
“I was really happy for us because we made one more big play. … As a team and individually, we challenged a high percent of their shots and we rebounded,” Watson said. “When you outrebound a team of that magnitude by 20 rebounds – that plays a big part how we put ourselves in the spot at the end.”
The game against Indiana University in October helped prepare USI against a high-energy game, Watson said.
“It gave our guys a real sense of the game with emotions – you have to slow down a little bit because your adrenaline is going to carry you go a little faster than what you’re used to,” he said.
Lawrence Thomas, Gavin Schumann, Orlando Rutledge, Chuck Jones and Aaron Nelson all scored in the double digits. Nelson, who led the Eagles with 15 points, created a new USI record with 15 consecutive double-doubles.
“I thought this was really a game we deserved to win. I think both teams deserved to win, without question,” Watson said. “There were plenty of opportunities for the game to go either way. It was really enjoyable.”
During the first half, the Eagles and the Knights changed leads 11 times and were tied seven times.
“In the locker room after the game was so much fun. What you see in that locker room is a collection of guys that all played different roles,” Watson said. “Some guys didn’t play at all, some guys played a couple minutes, some of them played 40 minutes. But everyone had the same amount of joy because they know how much each of them practiced in preparation for it, they each had a hand in it. It was so neat to see that – to see how happy our team was. “
On Jan. 16, when the Eagles played Saint Joseph’s College, their free throws weren’t going in – making six out of the 16 attempts. But they proved that they were serious about them in the games that followed– showing University of Indianapolis 84 percent at the free throw line on Saturday and 70 percent against Bellarmine Monday.
“We are not doing anything we haven’t been doing all season – the guys are stepping up,” Lawrence said. “If a teammate makes them, then I need to make them. It’s contagious.”
He was speechless after the game.
“When you go into a game like that and get a win with a team that’s good year-in and year-out, that’s big time,” he said.
Even with a win against the No. 2-ranked team in the nation, Watson doesn’t want to think too much about the playoffs.
“(If) you start thinking about that stuff in January, you start to run off the road,” he said. “We’ve got Lewis this week. That’s the trap. You got to be disciplined to stay the course. We got to stay locked in and take one step at a time. March doesn’t matter in January. You get to March when you get there.”
The men’s basketball team will travel to No. 23-ranked Lewis University Thursday and then will meet University of Wisconsin-Parkside Saturday.
“(Lewis is) a good team,” Lawrence said. “They know what we just did, so they’re wanting to knock us off, so we’ve to be prepared and ready and stick together as a team.”