The USI Men’s Basketball Team opened their final homestand of the season on Thursday night. They hosted the Eastern Illinois University Panthers on Thursday night in the annual Coaches vs Cancer game, where everyone in attendance came together to celebrate cancer survivor stories and honor families.
Going into the game, USI and Eastern Illinois both had records of 4-12, but both teams were not technically eliminated from the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. To say that this game was important to both teams would be an understatement.
USI entered the game on a seven game losing streak, which I addressed in detail in my previous article.
In this game, the team would be without Josiah Dunham, who has been one of the key role players of this team. His production and playing time would need to be replaced if USI wanted to win.
The game opened with Eastern Illinois playing up to the moment, with aggressive defense. They forced two turnovers from USI, but did not score off of them, which was fortunate for the Screaming Eagles. Jayland Randall, junior guard, opened the attack with a jumper, which was followed by a fastbreak layup by Damoni Harrison, junior guard nearly a minute later.
However, EIU would be up to the challenge as they went on a 7-0 run, taking a three point lead. This would soon be put to a stop when Stephen Olowoniyi, sophomore forward, stole the ball near half court and flew down the court for a two-handed fastbreak jam. This run prompted USI Head Coach Stan Gouard to make a change at point guard, by subbing in Sam Kodi, junior guard for Jack Campion, junior guard. Campion committed two turnovers in the first 5 minutes and looked rushed in the way he was playing.
For the next couple of minutes, the Panthers got going, scoring eleven points in the next five minutes to grow the lead to 18-9, as USI’s offense had gone flat. Gouard eventually went back to Campion, because the offense was stagnant with Kodi in. USI was then able to cut the lead to six after a basket from Jadyn Shider, junior forward, who was now in the game and a three-pointer by Damoni Harrison.
Gouard, still displeased with his team’s performance so far, made a bold adjustment, subbing out Damoni Harrison, who had been struggling with his shot in the first half, for Ryan Hall, junior guard. Hall was out of the rotation for most of the season, but with Dunham out, he had his chance and he made the most of it.
Hall made an impact instantly by stealing the ball on an Eastern Illinois possession and finding Stephen Olowoniyi open for a fastbreak layup, cutting the deficit to four. Then, with nearly two minutes to go, Hall hit a clutch three-pointer to keep USI within five.
USI’s run would continue after a missed layup from the Panther, when Damoni Harrison, who had been subbed in for Campion, hit a jumper to cut the lead to three going into half.
Halftime: USI- 27 EIU- 30
Going into halftime, USI had to make some adjustments if they wanted to win. They had seven first half turnovers which wasn’t five less than their season average. With that being said, they needed to be aggressive on offense.
To open the second half, USI gave up two quick buckets in the paint and turned the ball over twice. Coach Gouard made an early substitution bringing Ryan Hall back in.
To open the scoring for USI, Stephen Olowoniyi took some initiative by being aggressive, scoring two baskets in the paint. However, his opponent, Roldolfo Rufino Bolis, senior forward scored two back to back baskets on him, which grew the lead to seven.
Gouard then made a double substitution, bringing in Sam Mervis, senior guard and Jayland Randall in for Campion and Jack Mielke, graduate forward. Campion had made two crucial turnovers to begin the second half and Mervis would perhaps bring more stability to the guard position.
Mervis would play the next 10 minutes dishing out an assist, grabbing a rebound and a steal, while only giving the ball away once.
However, EIU’s Rufino Bolis, continued to score, for nine points, all in the second half. The lead would eventually grow to seven with 7:49 to go.
Damoni Harrison, however, would score five points in the next few minutes to cut the deficit to one with four minutes left.
Unfortunately, the offense went cold for USI as they would not score until there was one minute left and USI had one minute left when Harrison again would score with a three-pointer. Eastern Illinois would eventually pull away by a score of 63-54.
Takeaways:
With this loss, the men’s basketball team is officially eliminated from the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. Personally, I thought they were going to win this game and to be honest they should have. In my opinion, the talent on this team is superior to that of Eastern Illinois, but the Panthers wanted it more. USI shot a higher percentage from the field, (40% vs 36.4%) but got outrebounded 45-33.
The major reason why USI lost was poor ball control. The team was careless with the ball, especially in the second half and Eastern Illinois took advantage of that with 24 points off turnovers.
Tactically, I thought Stan Gouard coached a solid game. He played eleven guys tonight, which was a definite change from the previous games. He made adjustments that worked, especially in the case of Ryan Hall, who made a good impact with seven points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal. Sam Mervis brought a semblance of stability with his play.
Stephen Olowoniyi had a solid game with 18 points, five rebounds, three blocks and a steal. My only critique is that matchup, Rufino Bolis kinda got hot on Olowoniyi’s watch. Stephen’s a special player, who is only going to continue to get better.
Damoni Harrison had 18 points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal. However, he did have four turnovers, which is why he got pulled early on, but ultimately, he had a solid game. His wing counterpart, Jayland Randall had a tough shooting night, with six points on 3/10 shooting from the field, a steal and five rebounds, along with three turnovers.
Jack Campion had one point, two assists, two rebounds, one steal and five turnovers. It was far from his best performance and hopefully he can learn from it.
