KOKOMO, Ind. -- After having the last week off from competition to focus on finals, the Midway men's basketball team returned to action on Saturday afternoon when they traveled to Kokomo, Ind. for a River States Conference matchup with Indiana University Kokomo.
The Cougars entered the contest ranked seventh in the country in total scoring offense averaging just over 90 points a game and on Saturday they showcased why their one of the best offenses in the country as they would cruise to a 102-79 victory.
IU Kokomo – who improved to 9-3 overall and 3-2 in RSC play – torched the nets shooting 63.3 percent overall and 60 percent from three-point land where they hit 12-of-20. They also turned Midway's 10 turnovers into 19 points, while the Eagles scored just eight off 13 miscues from the Cougars.
The Eagles – who fell to 6-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play – finished the game shooting 47.1 percent from the floor, while hitting just 7-of-22 from long distance for 31.8 percent.
Kwon Evans (Louisville, Ky.) did his best to keep Midway in it early in the first half scoring 10 of the team's first 16 points, but the Eagles still trailed 19-16 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first stanza.
The Cougars responded to Midway's mini run by going on an 11-4 run of their own to extend their lead to 30-20 with 8:39 remaining in the first half.
The Eagles quickly answered with a 7-2 run with Evans scoring the final four points of the spurt to pull within five at 32-27, but the Cougars once again answered by going on a 17-8 run over the final 6:22 of the first half to take a 49-35 lead into the locker room.
Midway came out firing to start the second half connecting on 6-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-5 from three point range as they opened with a 16-5 run to cut the deficit to three at 54-51 less than four minutes into the half.
Ty Sparling (Kokomo, Ind.) caught fire in the stretch as he connected on three triples to spark the rally. The rally, however, was short lived as the Cougars started clicking and never looked back.
After scoring 16 points in the opening 3:38 of the second half, the Eagles went cold scoring just eight points in the next 8:55. The Cougars took advantage of Midway's scoring woes by going on a 29-8 run to build an 83-59 advantage with 7:27 remaining. The Eagles never got closer than 19 in the final seven minutes and change as IU Kokomo would cruise to the 102-79 victory.
Sophomore Kwon Evans led the way for the Eagles scoring a game-high 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the floor. Ty Sparling and Jose Bustamante (Surprise, Ariz.) added 14 and 13 points respectively, while Bustamante pulled down a team best six rebounds in the loss.
The game Saturday was Midway's last 'official' game before the Christmas holiday as they will play their final exhibition of the season on Sunday. Tomorrow the Eagles will travel to the University of Southern Indiana – an NCAA Division II opponent – for a 1 p.m. tipoff.
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