Men's Basketball Falls to 24th Ranked Indiana South Bend 71-70 on Buzzer Beating Put Back

CHICAGO – The Roosevelt University men's basketball team nearly pulled off an upset of 24^th ranked Indiana University South Bend, losing by the score of 71-70 on a last second put back by the Titans on Wednesday, January 5 at the Goodman Center.  The loss dropped the Lakers CCAC Conference record to 6-3 and their overall record to 11-5 on the year.

The Lakers jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead behind a three-pointer by Trenton Kyler and two points from Caleb Brown.  However, the Titans answered with a 15-2 run to build a 16-7 advantage with 14:48 to go and pushed their lead to 20-10 with 12:31 on the clock. 

Roosevelt then came back with a run of its own, cutting the deficit to 22-21 with just under seven minutes remaining on two three-pointers from Kyler and a three by Lucas Jordan.  Indiana South Bend increased its lead to 29-25, but the Lakers evened it up at 29-29 with 54 seconds left on two free throws by Jordan and layup from Shane Stevensen.  With just seconds left in the half, the Titans came up with a steal and scored on a layup at the buzzer to lead 31-29 at the half.

Indiana South Bend opened up a 39-31 lead early in the second half, but the Lakers responded with a 14-2 run to take a 45-41 lead with 14:22 to play, which was fueled by seven points from Stevensen.  Roosevelt would hold a slight lead until under three minutes left when the Titans regained the lead at 64-63.

The two teams were tied at 66-66 with 1:12 left to go before Kyler knocked down a jumper to put the home team up 68-66 with 53 seconds remaining.  Indiana South Bend came back with a three-point play to regain the lead at 69-68, but Kyler came through for the Lakers with a layup with nine seconds to go for a 70-69 advantage.  The Titans threw up a desperation shot that was off the mark, but were able to put in the rebound as the horn sounded to pull out the 71-70 conference victory.

GAME DETAILS

Score:   Indiana South Bend         31           40           71          
                Roosevelt                            29           41           70

Records: Roosevelt 11-5, 6-3 (CCAC) | Indiana South Bend 12-3, 8-1 (CCAC)

Location: Goodman Center | Chicago, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Freshman Trenton Kyler scored a career-high & game-high 34 points to go with five assists, four steals, & four rebounds
• Freshman Shane Stevensen scored 12 points & pulled down six rebounds
• Lucas Jordan added 11 points
• Ayomide Ajiboye had seven rebounds & four assists
• The Lakers shot 40.7% from the field, 37.1% from three-point range, & 52.9% from the free throw line
• The Titans shot 47.3% overall, 30% from behind the arc, & 72.2% from the charity stripe
• RU's bench outscored IUSB's bench 17 to 3
• Indiana South Bend held a 36 to 20 advantage in points in the paint

NEWS & NOTES

• The Lakers are now 5-8 versus the Titans in the all-time series
• IUSB is now tied for first place in the CCAC with Olivet Nazarene at 8-1
• RU sits in third place of the CCAC with a 6-3 record
• Click here to view the current CCAC Conference standings

NEXT UP

The Lakers continue CCAC Conference action on Wednesday, January 12 when they host Indiana University Northwest.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30pm at the Goodman Center in Chicago.