The IUS men’s basketball team defeated visiting Cincinnati Christian 106-50 on Jan. 29 in the Activities Building.
The Grenadiers forced 28 turnovers and scored 39 points off of those to rout the visiting Eagles.
“I tell them guard our yard,” Wiley Brown, IUS men’s basketball head coach, said about the home victory. “Anytime you can get a conference win, it’s good.”
Brown said they can’t afford to lose their home games.
This victory was a rebound from a loss on Jan. 27 when the Grenadiers visited Mountain State and lost 88-55.
“We jumped on them early and got up and down and had fun,” Jazzmarr Ferguson, senior guard, said.
Ferguson also added 19 points and was one assist shy of a double-double.
IU Southeast jumped on Cincinnati Christian early and never let up. The Grenadiers had two quick misses in the first minute before Reginald Breeden, freshman guard, hit a 3-pointer to begin scoring.
A couple plays later, Rick Bodiford, senior guard, stole the ball and gave it to Ferguson who sent an alley-oop back to Bodiford, firing up the crowd. Bodiford had 12 points and 5 rebounds in the contest.
The Eagles quickly called a timeout, and IU Southeast came out of the timeout pressing Cincinnati Christian in the backcourt.
“We wanted to attack on defense and rebound,” Brown said about his game plan.
The Grenadiers opened the game on a 10-2 run. Cincinnati Christian came down and hit a three to make the game the closest it would be at 10-5.
IU Southeast controlled the boards getting 47 rebounds — 14 of them were offensive. They added 12 points off second chances.
Nick Gagel, junior guard, and Steve Hendrick, junior guard, led the team in rebounding with seven each.
In addition to crashing the boards, IU Southeast scored 39 points off 30 Eagle’s turnovers.
Darryl Bell, junior guard, led both teams in scoring with 22 points off the bench. Bell has been out for the past four games with an injury.
“They didn’t know how much they were going to play me,” Bell said. “I knew I had to bring it up so I could stay in the game.”
By the 13-minute mark in the first half, the lead had grown to 20-9 off of one of Bell’s six 3-pointers.
IU Southeast made 14 3-pointers, as well as shooting 53 percent.
The Grenadiers played a physical game against the visitors and controlled most every aspect of the game, and they didn’t let up.
As the second half began, it appeared it was all but over for the visiting Eagles as they struggled to get anything going on offense, and the Grenadiers were dictating on the boards.
IU Southeast also had 28 assists compared to their 14 turnovers and only allowed 8 points off the turnovers.
Mohamed Fall, junior center, led the visiting Eagles in with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Brown said he expects shooters will have bad nights, but he will continue to stress defense is the key in practice.
By JOSHUA WILSON
Staff
wilsjosh@imail.iu.edu