The Urbana University men’s basketball team cruised to its first win of the season Wednesday night, defeating Salem International, 87-70, in the home opener at the Grimes Center.
Freshman Jahmere Howze led UU for the third straight game with 18 points in the second half, despite only playing 14 minutes.
The 6-foot-6 forward picked up two early fouls and played just three minutes in the first half, but came on strong to go 5 of 7 from the field in 11 minutes of action in the second period.
Howze had his way around the basket in the second half, and got to the line 10 times where he added eight more points.
Three more Blue Knights reached double figures, including Carlas Jackson (17), Matt Csuhran (16) and Mike Newton (13). Csuhran shot lights out from three-point range going 4 of 6 from deep. Nine Blue Knights registered points in the scorebook.
As a team, UU shot 57 percent from the field and 39 percent on 3-pointers, while limiting the Tigers to 49-percent shooting.
UU never trailed and led by double figures the entire second half. The largest lead came with 4:35 left, when a Howze layup put UU up by 28 points.
Up next for UU is the MEC opener on Saturday. The Blue Knights will play at Wheeling Jesuit with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m.
