Box Score

EVANSVILLE, IND.: Southwest Minnesota State shot just 28.6 percent in the first half and committed 17 total turnovers in dropping a 61-51 road decision to No. 10 Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind., on Friday night. 

The game was part of the four-team Southern Indiana Classic host by USI.  No. 4 ranked Northwest Missouri State defeated Bellarmine (Ky.) 67-60 in the first game of the classic.

The poor shooting cost the Mustangs during two critical stretches of the first and second halves.  The two teams battled in the game's first eight minutes with SMSU taking its largest lead of the game at 12-9 on Nick Dale's jumper with 12:45 left in the opening half.  The Screaming Eagles though responded with a 15-4 run over the next eight and a half minutes to push the lead to 26-16 with just under four minutes left in the half.  USI pushed the lead to as many as 11 points in the opening half before settling for a 29-20 halftime lead.

SMSU shot just 8 of 28 from the field in the first half (28.6) including just 2 of 13 from 3-point range.  USI ended the first half shooting 11 of 22 from the field and 5 of 13 from 3-point range.

The second half didn't start well for SMSU either as USI began the half on a 10-3 run and extended its lead to 39-23 with 14:50 left in the game. 

SMSU though wouldn't go away and chipped at the lead down to single digits with 11:55 remaining on a three-pointer by Travis Krenske to cut the deficit to 41-33.  USI would answer back and make the score 48-37 with 9:39 left before SMSU put together its best basketball of the game scoring the next 10 points to pull to within 48-47 with 6:39 left in the contest.  Trailing 48-42 with 7:34 on the clock, Krenske drilled a three-pointer and followed that with a steal and lay-up to cut the Eagle lead to one. 

Trailing 50-47 with just over six minutes left in the game, Kevin Andrews hit a jumper to pull SMSU to within 50-49 but in the next five minutes USI would go on a 7-0 run to put the game away.   Andrew Peschong ended the drought for SMSU with 1:06 left to make the score 57-51 but USI hit four free throws in the final 55 seconds to secure the victory.

Krenske led SMSU with 14 points on 5 of 15 shooting while Dale chipped in with eight points on 4 of 4 shooting.  The Mustangs finished the contest shooting 37.5 percent from the field and just 6 of 25 from three-point range.

SMSU, 2-1 overall, will continue play on Saturday night when it takes on Bellarmine (Ky.) beginning at 5:15 p.m. in Evansville, Ind.