Screaming Eagles Fly Past Rivermen

Southern Indiana Defeats UMSL 117-78

Evansville, Ind. – The UMSL men's basketball team ran up against the 16th ranked team in the country on Saturday, and came away with a 117-78 defeat.

The Screaming Eagles soared out of the gates early in the game. UMSL got a layup by Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) to make it a five-point game at 18-13 with 14:30 to go in the first half when USI made their run. Southern Indiana went on a 13-1 run over the next two minutes to take control of the game. UMSL would get the deficit back down to 11 points at 31-20 after another bucket by Griffin, but USI ran past the Rivermen for a 57-34 halftime lead. The second half was much of the same as Southern Indiana outscored UMSL 60-44 in the second half to cruise for the 117-78 victory.

Southern Indiana shot 61.1% (44-for-72) from the field, including 65.4% (17-of-26) from three-point range in the game, and outrebounded UMSL 48-23. The Rivermen shot just 27.3% (6-for-22) from three-point range for the game. The 117 points given up by UMSL was the first time a team had scored over 100 against the Rivermen since a 101-70 loss at Kentucky Wesleyan in the 2000-01 season, and it was the most points given up by UMSL since losing 119-78 at Oklahoma in the 1991-92 season.

The Rivermen were led by Jonathan Griffin with a game-high 24 points and he added four steals. Sherome Cole (Sikeston, Mo./Sikeston) added 13 points for UMSL, including 3-for-6 shooting from three-point range. Southern Indiana had five players in double figures, led by Geoff Van Winkle with 18 points and Randy Holbrook had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

UMSL is now 9-14 on the season and 5-11 in the GLVC. The Rivermen will travel to play at Quincy next Thursday, and at SIU Edwardsville next Saturday.