Men's Basketball Hangs On For 69-65 CCAC Conference Victory Over Indiana Northwest

CHICAGO – The Roosevelt University men's basketball team defeated Indiana University Northwest for the second time this season, winning by the score of 69-65 on Wednesday, January 12 at the Goodman Center.  With the victory, the Lakers took sole possession of third place in the CCAC Conference with a 7-3 record and are now 12-5 overall this season.

The first ten minutes of the first half were highly contested before the Lakers went ahead 22-15 on an Andrew Veon put back with 9:31 to go.  Roosevelt pushed its lead to 32-23 on two Trenton Kyler free throws with 4:20 remaining, but both teams were unable to score for the next two minutes.  Kyler broke that scoreless streak with five straight points and Lucas Jordan knocked down a three-pointer to give the home team a 40-24 half-time lead.

The Lakers continued to extend their lead early in the second half, leading by as many as 22 points at 52-30 with 15:37 left to play after Ayomide Ajiboye converted a pair of free throws.  However, the RedHawks began to slowly chip away at the RU lead and pulled to within 58-47 with just over nine minutes remaining.  Once again, both offenses went silent for the next few minutes before Indiana Northwest trimmed the deficit to nine points at 58-49 with just under seven minutes to go.

The RedHawks kept up the momentum, trailing 61-54 with 6:02 to go before the Lakers increased their lead to 65-54 on another Kyler three-pointer and a Veon free throw, but IUNW then went on an 11-2 run to trail 67-65 with 2:53 left on the clock.  However, the RU defense buckled down, not allowing the visitors to score another point and coming up with key rebounds before Ajiboye knocked down two free throws with just two seconds to play to seal the 69-65 conference win.

GAME DETAILS

Score:   Indiana Northwest          24           41           65
                Roosevelt                            40           29           69

Records: Roosevelt 12-5, 7-3 (CCAC) | Indiana Northwest 12-5, 6-4 (CCAC)

Location: Goodman Center | Chicago, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Trenton Kyler scored a game-high 19 points to lead RU in scoring for the fifth consecutive game
• Lucas Jordan added 12 points
• Ayomide Ajiboye registered nine points, six rebounds, & five blocks
• Andrew Veon also had nine points & six rebounds
• Caleb Brown chipped in with eight points & seven rebounds
• The Lakers shot 37.5% from the field & 34.8% from three-point range
• The RedHawks shot 34.2% overall & 25% from behind the arc
• RU held a slight 42 to 4o edge in rebounding

NEWS & NOTES

• The Lakers swept the season series from the RedHawks & now lead the all-time series 11-3
• Freshman Trenton Kyler leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game
• Click here to view the current CCAC Conference standings

NEXT UP

The Lakers continue CCAC Conference action on Saturday, January 15 when they travel to Davenport, Iowa to take on St. Ambrose University.  Game time is scheduled for 3pm at the Lee Lohman Arena on the campus of St. Ambrose.