Kevin Gant said the men’s basketball team is improving its defense.

The team held its Friday night opponent, Ohio Valley University, to 45 percent from field goal range to come away with the 85-65 win.

“We played a little better defensively,” the men’s assistant coach said. “I’m not saying we are where we need to be, but we didn’t give up 100 points.”

In the two previous games, USI allowed their opponent to score more than 100 points, something that hadn’t been done since the 90s.

Gant said the team made strides and kept the lead throughout the entire second half, but it still allowed Ohio Valley to get going offensively in some spots.

“If we have a lead we just have to put our foot on the pedal and keep cruising,” Gant said.

USI’s offense was propelled by freshman guard Alex Stein who earned a season high 23 points.

Three other players ended the game in double figures: senior forward George Edwards with 16, senior guard Travis Britt with 12 and junior Shane Seniour with 10.

“My shot was falling tonight, it felt pretty good honestly,” Stein said, “but I’m just glad we won the game. That’s the most important thing.”

Stein said he thought the team played a better game than last Tuesday and rebounded more than before.

The team ended the night with 38 rebounds–11 on defense and 27 on offense.

Britt said it’s important to let a game come to them, but also he didn’t think the team came out with the spark they really needed.

“We just gotta keep building off this,” he said. “This isn’t really where we want to be right now.”

The team will play another game tomorrow against Midwestern State University and Britt said the players know it is a good team.

Midwestern State currently averages 95.3 points a game and is ranked fifth nationally. The university has never played this team before so it will be a new experience.

“We (have) just got to come ready to play for a whole 40 minutes,” Britt said. “We can’t take any plays off.”