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RICHMOND, Ky. – NAIA Division II school Indiana University-Northwest upset the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, 74-73, Monday night at McBrayer Arena.

The Redhawks out of Gary, Ind., led most of the first half, but a three-pointer by the Colonels’ Mike Lewis just beat the buzzer to give EKU a 38-37 lead at the break. However, the visiting Redhawks picked up where they left off in the first stanza, grabbing a 51-43 lead with 11:57 to go in the game. IU Northwest pushed that advantage to 10 points twice (62-52, 8:54 to go and 74-64 at the 2:45 mark) before Eastern mounted its last comeback attempt.

Eastern, which had scored eight unanswered points to trim the deficit to 74-72, had freshman Joshua Jones on the line for two free throws that would have tied the game with 6.6 seconds left. However, after making the first charity toss to bring it to 74-73, Jones missed the second and the Redhawks’ Pete Dunbar grabbed the rebound and was fouled.

Dunbar missed the front end of the bonus and the Colonels quickly got the ball to leading scorer Mike Rose whose three-point attempt bounced off the side of the rim at the buzzer to secure the Redhawks’ one-point win.

Rose led the Colonels (7-5) with his second double-double of the season as he scored a team-high 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Junior Josh Taylor added a career-best 18 points, while Jones and Lewis scored 12 points apiece for the Colonels.

IU Northwest (6-9) placed four of its five starters in twin digits, led by junior forward Joe Ramey with a game-high 25 points. Junior guard Jesse Howell added 18 points, while junior guard Pete Trgovich scored 17 points, including 15 in the first half. Dunbar was a big contributor for Indiana-Northwest as he had a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Eastern shot a cool 37.5 percent from the field, while the Redhawks hit 49.1 percent. EKU was 11-of-39 from three-point land, while the Redhawks hit 12-of-27 from behind the arc. EKU won the rebounding battle, 42-39, led by Rose’s 12. 

--courtesy of the Associated Press