Red Wolves - IU East

CONNERSVILLE - It's only a loss if you don't learn from it.

That's the message Indiana University East men's basketball coach Mark Hester delivered to his players after the Red Wolves fell 99-67 against Athletes In Action in their exhibition opener on Oct. 18 at Spartan Bowl.

"We learned how hard we're going to have to play if we want to win a national championship at this level," said sophomore forward Devon Niehoff (Rushville, Ind./Rushville High School), who grew up not far from the Fayette County line. Connersville is the Fayette County seat.

"These guys were a lot older and a higher level, but we're going to run into some teams with as much athleticism or more. We've got to overcome adversity, and that's one thing we're going to learn from tonight."

Athletes In Action's roster included six former NCAA Division I players and multiple players with overseas professional experience.

IU East got off to a slow start and never recovered.

AIA scored the game's first 13 points and led by more than 20 points for the game's last 27 minutes. AIA made 10 of its first 12 shots. AIA sank 60 percent of its 3-point attempts in the first half.

"They're a very mature team, with 25- and 26-year-olds, which is totally different from what we usually play," Hester said during a postgame pizza and fellowship time with the AIA players and coaches. "I thought it was a great test for us early on to see where we were at.

"We've got to get a new level of physicality about us. We can tolerate physical mistakes when we play against guys like that, but it's the mental mistakes we've got to correct -- though we didn't make a ton of those for our first game."

Junior guard Channing Coffey led IU East with 15 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Bijon Jones added 10.

Travis Lay led Athletes In Action with 17 points. Five AIA players scored in double figures. AIA shot .607 as a team, including a .731 field goal percentage in the first half.

"Even though they scored (almost) 100 points, with the types of shots they were making, I think we were doing OK," Hester said. "We're still thinking (on offense) more than running the offense second nature, but that will come with time."

Athletes In Action is the sports ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.

The game gave IU East's alumni, students and fans from Connersville a chance to see the Red Wolves in person. The staff at Connersville High School even jumped in to provide an officiating crew when the scheduled referees were unable to work the game.

IU East's regular season opener is Oct. 30 at Southern Oregon. The Red Wolves will scrimmage at Earlham College on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m.

Click here to read coverage of the event in the Connersville News Examiner.