March 13, 2004

Boxscore

ROMEOVILLE, Ill.--Joe Gordon scored a career-high 32 points to lead third-seeded Southern Indiana to a 96-83 victory over sixth-seeded Kentucky Wesleyan Saturday in a quarterfinal game of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Championship at Lewis University.

Gordon's 12-of-17 shooting performance included a 2-of-4 effort from 3-point distance. The senior guard also was 6 of 8 at the foul line.

A Gordon 3-pointer gave Southern Indiana (24-6) a 50-47 lead at the end of a first half that featured eight ties and seven lead changes. Kentucky Wesleyan (22-8) stayed close with the 3-point shooting of Bobby Zuerner, who buried 7 of 10 shots from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.

The Screaming Eagles began the second half on a 15-4 run that gave them a 65-51 cushion, and Kentucky Wesleyan never drew closer than six points the rest of the way. Geoff Van Winkle's 3-pointer put the margin into double digits for good, 83-71, at the 4:45 mark.

Avery Queen tallied 19 points and eight assists and Cris Brunson added 12 points for USI, which shot .645 from the floor in the first half and finished at .583. Randy Holbrook's 10 rebounds led the Eagles to a 45-29 advantage on the glass.

Zuerner led KWC with 27 points, although he scored just three points in the second half when his team shot .206 from the field. Craig Schoen scored 23 points and Franklyn Ferguson added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Panthers, who launched 37 3-point attempts (14 of 37) and were 23 of 26 (.885) at the foul line.

3/13/04