The SMWC men's basketball team held IU Southeast to 42 percent shooting in the second half, holding off the reigning River States Conference tournament champions for a 73-68 victory.
It's just another step for a Pomeroys' squad looking to contend in a tough River States Conference this season.
The Pomeroys had to overcome a first-half lull that saw IU Southeast take a 33-25 lead with 3:49 to go before halftime on a bucket by Lane Lauderbaugh. Last week's RSC Player of the Week, Jocobi Hendricks extended that lead to 35-27 with 3:18 on the clock.
Tarik Dixon helped the Pomeroys make a critical push before the half with a 3-pointer on the next possession.
Cobie Barnes, who had a game-high 24 points to go with 12 rebounds and six assists, drilled a triple moments later. The Grenadiers' got a rebound bucket by Richard Lang with 1:51 to go, but SMWC wasn't deterred.
Barnes connected on a 3-pointer with 56 seconds on the clock then Dixon hit a big one with four seconds left on the clock to send the Pomeroys into halftime with a 38-37 lead.
Dixon, who finished with a season-high 13 points, carried that momentum into the second half, connecting on a transition 3-pointer after Barnes led the fast break and found Dixon.
DaMeriz Merriweather had a team-high nine points in the second half, hitting 4 of 5 from the field.
Perhaps most importantly, the Pomeroys held Hendricks, who came into the game averaging 25 ppg, to six points and four turnovers on 2 of 7 shooting in the second half.
Hendricks finished with 21 points but shot 43 percent from the field after coming into the game hitting 48 percent of his attempts. Hendricks' five turnovers were his season-high as well.
"Our gameplan was to cut his water off and make other players try to beat us," said Merriweather. "Greg Johnson started off on him and did good, made a statement and applied pressure early in the game. Maintaining that defense played a big part throughout the game."
 
ANOTHER BIG GAME FOR TUPUOLA
Shon Tupuola had nine of his 14 rebounds in the second half and finished with 10 points and three blocked shots.
Tupuola's third double-double of the season was huge in the outcome Tuesday night. Tupuola is averaging 14.5 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 1.5 steals in the two conference wins.
 
DROPPING DIMES
Tupuola had three dunks on the night, the last one an alley-oop finish from Johnson, who had five of the Pomeroys' 19 assists on the night.
The 19 assists were tied for the second most this season for SMWC.  Barnes led the way with a season-best six. Greg Jenkins chipped in four.
 
ON TARGET FROM THE ARC
SMWC's 10 3-pointers tied its season-high. Barnes was 3 of 9 from 3-point range and has drilled 11 of 21 (52.4 percent) over the past four games.
Johnson, who was 3 of 6 on Tuesday, is 7 of 16 (43.8 percent) the past four games.