GARY, Ind. - The Indiana University Kokomo men's basketball team saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end on Thursday night as IU Northwest overcame a 20 point deficit to defeat the Cougars 70-68. IU Kokomo's overall record falls to 13-3 on the season.
Desean Hampton entered Thursday's game just two points shy of 1,000 for his career. At the 7:18 mark in the first half, Hampton reached the career milestone by converting a layup. Hampton finished the game with six points and 13 rebounds. The senior is now 157 rebounds shy of 1,000 for his career and would become just the second player in men's or women's history to reach the 1,000 career points and rebound milestone.
Trequan Spivey got things going for the Cougars, knocking down a triple less than a minute into the contest. The Redhawks would go on to score the next eight points, taking an 11-3 advantage over the Cougars. Spivey scored the next seven points for the Cougars to cut the IU Kokomo deficit to just one point.
With 11:56 to play in the opening half,
Hunter Jackson knocked down a triple to put the Cougars in front, 15-14. A minute later, Jackson knocked down his second three and
Noah Harris followed that with a layup on the next possession to give IU Kokomo a a five-point lead, their largest of the game to this point.
Leading 22-21, the Cougars used a 6-0 run with four points coming from
Hunter White and two from Hampton to extend their lead to 28-21 with 6:42 to go in the half.
IU Kokomo turned defense into offense as Hampton denied an IU Northwest shot and
Darian Porch converted a layup on the offensive end to give the Cougars their first double digit lead of the game. Harris gave IUK their largest lead of the first half at 17 with a jumper on the Cougars' final possession of the half. IU Norhtwest would knock down a three as the half expired, giving IU Kokomo a 14 point advantage at the break.
Spivey and White led the way for the Cougars in the first half with 10 points. IUK shot 53 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.
IU Kokomo came out in the second half and remained in control. A pair of free throws by Spivey with just under 17 minutes to play in the game gave IU Kokomo a 20 point lead, which would be their largest of the game.
Midway through the final half, the Cougars led by 15 points. It was at that point momentum starting to shift to IU Northwest. A scoring drought from the Cougars got the Redhawks back into the game. A 6-0 run by IU Northwest cut the Cougars' lead down to nine points at 62-53. Two free throws by Porch boosted the Cougars' lead back to 11 points but IU Northwest answered with a 7-0 run to make it a four point game with five minutes left.
With 2:08 left in the game, the Redhaws evened things at 66 apiece. The teams would combine for just six more points for the rest of the game, four of them being scored by the Redhawks including a layup with 31 seconds left on the clock. Spivey took a jumper with two seconds on the clock that did not fall, giving IU Northwest the two-point victory.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, the Cougars were outscored 23-6.
The loss is the first since November 19 for the Cougars. Two of the Cougars' three losses this season come at the hands of the Redhawks.
The Cougars will travel to Lincoln College next Tuesday to take on the Lynx. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET
