EDWARDSVILLE, ILL. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville won for the seventh time in the last eight games as the Cougars handed Indianapolis its eighth straight loss 74-65 on Saturday.
         SIUE, 9-3 overall and 3-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, won for the fifth consecutive game as they swept their five-game homestand. The Greyhounds fall to 1-10 on the season and 1-4 in the league.
         SIUE defeated Indianapolis for the first time since Dec. 3, 1998. The Cougars had lost 13 consecutive contests to the Pumas heading into today's game.
         Ty Johnson led the Cougars will 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Johnson was 4 of 6 from behind the three-point arc.
         Indianapolis led the Cougars 15-14 with 11:29 to go in the first half. A steal and a dunk by Ryan Belcher finished off a 23-10 run over 8:23 to give SIUE a 12-point advantage. The Cougars would took an 11-point lead into the break.
         The Greyhounds started the second half on a 9-3 run as they cut the SIUE lead to 44-39 with 14:40 to play.
         SIUE made a 24-5 run of its won as Belcher's three-pointer led by 24 points with 8:45 to go in the second half. Indianapolis trimmed the lead to 12 in the final minutes before hitting a three-pointer with two seconds left for the final score.
         Belcher, the reigning GLVC Player of the Week, finished with nine points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and three streals. J.B. Jones netted 14 points adding six assists, four rebounds, and four steals. Anthony Jones came off the bench to score 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Mike Hardiek added 11 points grabbing five rebounds.
         SIUE shot 53.7 percent (29-54) from the field while netting a season-high 52.4 percent (11-21) from behind three point arc. The Greyhounds shot 50 percent (22-44) from the field and 38.9 percent (7-18) from three-point land.
         Freshman Braxton Mills led the Greyhounds with 18 points, grabbing six rebounds. Justin Barnard finished with 15 points, and Scott Strahm tallied 15.
         The Cougars will head to the road next week traveling to Kentucky Wesleyan on Thursday night followed by a trip to No. 5 Southern Indiana on Saturday.
                  -siue cougars-