INDIANAPOLIS - The IU Indianapolis men's basketball team moved to 3-0 to start the season with a 74-70 home win over Southern Indiana inside James T. Morris Arena on Wednesday night (Nov. 11). Sophomore
Manasseh Stackhouse finished with a team-high 16 points off the Jaguars bench and
Billy Smith chimed in with 14. With the win, IU Indy marched to the program's best start to a season since 2009.
Sylla Fredy-Salam led four Southern Indiana (1-3) players in double-digits with 16 points and 15 rebounds and both Afan Trnka and Josh Smith tallied 14 points each.
"The first half was probably the worst basketball I've seen this team play since I got them in June. And it was frustrating," head coach
Ben Howlett said. "I thought we were playing as individuals rather than the team and we didn't recruit that way and our team is not built that way. We're a team. We regrouped and second half, (we) finally started to make some shots from the perimeter."
Scoring was a struggle for both sides in the opening half as the Jaguars shot just 28 percent from the floor and USI (1-3) wasn't much better at less than 41 percent. The Jaguars' largest first half lead came at 4-0 as USI didn't make a field goal until more than four minutes had elapsed. The Jags trailed 31-30 at the break as missed shots both ways were the norm.
USI's largest lead came with 13:09 to play when Johann Pautsch putback a miss, making it 45-40 in favor of the guests. The Jaguars finally got perimeter shots to fall midway through the second half, draining five threes in less than three minutes to turn the five-point deficit into a five-point lead. The lead grew to 60-52 with 7:34 to play when
Kameron Tinsley hit as the shot clock was winding down for a three possession lead.
USI stayed in the hunt, repeatedly getting the margin down to two, but the Jaguars answered on every occasion.
Gus Etchison dropped in a critical layup with 48 seconds left to make it a four-point lead and
Peyton Heiss split a pair of free throws with 24 seconds remaining to make it a three-point game. The Jaguars collected a key defensive stand with 7.8 seconds to play when Josh Smith missed a challenged layup and Idiaru collected the rebound.
The Jaguars made enough free throws in the closing minutes to seal the win.
Etchison and Tinsley scored nine points apiece and Idiaru finished with six points and a team-high eight rebounds. Stackhouse connected on 5-of-10 shots and finished with six boards and three blocked shots.
"I would say my biggest takeaway from this game is just, no matter if shots aren't falling, there's other ways to impact winning," Stackhouse said.
Jason Clarke Jr. and
Markus Pastorcic-Straun chipped in seven points apiece off the bench as IU Indy reserves totaled 47 of the team's 74 points.
USI won the glass 46-35 and outscored IU Indy in the paint by a 38-26 margin but the Jaguars continued their early season ability to turn opponents over, forcing 18 USI miscues.
The Jaguars will be back in action on Saturday (Nov. 14) when they hit the road to face Morehead State for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off on ESPN+ and 1430 Indy's Sports Ticket.
