#25 IU East falls to #17 St. Francis (IN) in KIAC Game of the Week

12/24/2015 12:00:00 AM

BOX SCORE

(By Franklin Crist -- IU East)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – In a home affair away from home, the Indiana University East men's basketball team played host to the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers, in the first of the Red Wolves' three straight contests versus Top 20 opponents.

IU East fell behind early, trailing by 15 at the break after a slow start that included 10 first half turnovers and 13 second-chance points for the Cougars. A 13-0 run in the second half wasn't enough to bring the Red Wolves back, and IU East fell 69-60.

The 25th-ranked Red Wolves fell to 9-6. The 17th-ranked Cougars are 11-3.

The matchup was the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Game of the Week.

The return trip to Indy was the Red Wolves' first since 2008, when IU East's very own Tyler Rigby totaled 30 points in a 95-75 drubbing of Holy Cross College.

"Playing physically, it's a mindset," Rigby, now an IU East assistant, commented after the game. "I didn't feel like we were ready to go from the tip, and they brought it to us."

The lone bright spot in the rebounding battle for the Red Wolves was a school-record-tying 17 rebounds for senior guard Huston Clark (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo High School), to go along with 11 total points.

IU East shot 30.3 percent from the floor overall and 24.1 percent in the first half, which contributed to the sluggish beginning.

IU East attempted 19 shots from behind the arc, which Coach Rigby called "abandoning the game plan."

"We wanted to get to the basket," he said. "We knew they played extremely well on the defensive end, but we had to find a way to get to the hole. The offense was really stagnant, and we didn't look to get the ball inside. I don't know if it was the atmosphere or what, but we definitely seemed distracted."

IU East would get within six in the final minutes after trailing by 18 in the first half, but couldn't complete the comeback.

"I think the (13-0 run) was sparked by a little bit of energy, something we didn't really have there in the first half," Rigby said. "We knocked some shots down and got to the rim a couple times, and I think that was enough to fuel the fire."

A quick Saint Francis time out halted the biggest bright spot of the game for the Red Wolves. From there, the Cougars were able to hang on and coast to their nine-point win.

Clark's double-double wasn't the only one of the contest. Saint Francis' Austin Fox tallied 17 boards of his own in addition to 12 points.

Sophomore guard Lucas Huffman (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central High School) and senior forward Dom Williams (Fort Wayne, Ind./Western Wyoming Community College) led the Red Wolves with 13 points apiece.

IU East (9-6) will travel to Nebraska after Christmas to take on No. 13 Bellevue University in the Bruins' Hampton Inn Holiday Classic on Dec. 29.