The University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball team returned to Liberty Arena, home of the Screaming Eagles, to face Tennessee Tech University after being on the road their last three games.
The Screagles looked to redeem themselves after their last game resulted in a nail biting one point loss to Morehead State University. Tennessee Tech, however, came into this game off a win against Morehead State and hoped to advance to a three-game winning streak.
USI’s Stephen Olowoniyi, sophomore forward, kicked things off with a layup in the first minutes of play. The following eleven points came from Southern Indiana’s Damoni Harrison, junior guard, which helped tie the game up at thirteen with just over eleven minutes remaining in the first half.
Harrison and Olowoniyi were USI’s top scorers with 22 and 17 points, respectively. The first half was tight with the score being tied for much of it, both teams having 27 with just under four minutes.
Shortly after, Jack Campion, junior guard, put on the defensive pressure causing a steal which led to a dunk by Olowoniyi. On the following play Olowoniyi got a defensive rebound that resulted in another two points put up in the paint.
However, Tennessee Tech kept their cool and were able to retake the lead. In the final two seconds Ola Ajiboye, junior forward, snuck in a quick jumper putting the Golden Eagles up by three. The score going into halftime sat at 34-31.
In stark contrast to the first half, Tennessee Tech soared away with the second half. They came out hot right away, putting up one of six three-pointers in the first fifteen seconds. The Golden Eagles continued to capitalize on their momentum.
With sixteen minutes left, Southern Indiana found themselves down by ten points, 43-33. However, within a minute the Screagles reduced TTU’s lead in half.
With under ten minutes to go, Harrison tied it all up at 48 points with a layup in the paint. However, that is the closest Southern Indiana would get. Tennessee Tech then went on an eight-point run and eventually forced USI to start fouling. The Golden Eagles went fifteen for twenty from the charity stripe for the night.
USI’s late game fouling got them close, but ultimately was not enough and they ended up falling short by thirteen points. The final score was 78-65.
Southern Indiana hopes to capture victory and some momentum in their season. The next matchup is a home game against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock this Thursday at 7:30 pm.
