Rockhurst dug out of a deep early hole only to fall short in dropping its conference home opener to Southern Indiana, 79-71, Thursday night at Mason-Halpin Field House.

The Hawks outscored Southern Indiana 50-43 in the second half. Rockhurst rallied from a 36-21 halftime deficit to pull within six points, 71-65, with 45 seconds left in the game.

"That was a real ugly first 15 minutes of the game for us," said Rockhurst coach Drew Diener. "We seemed really out of rhythm offensively and dug ourselves in a very big hole. They hurt us more on the inside than I had anticipated. We gave up 50 percent from the field for the game, you're not going to win many games doing that."

Dominique Washington led the Hawks with 23 points and seven rebounds. Washington connected on six-of-14 field goals. Austin LeVan scored 17 points while hitting five-of-12 three-point shots. Malachi Nix posted 15 points, five rebound, seven assists and two steals. John Burke grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Rockhurst shot 35.7 percent from the field (20 of 56) and connected on 23-of-30 free throws (76.7 percent). Southern Indiana made 28-of-54 field goals (51.9 percent) and shot 63.3 percent at the foul line (19 of 30). George Edwards paced the Eagles with 19 points and eight rebounds.

The Hawks, 6-5 and 1-2 in the GLVC, host 11th-ranked Bellarmine on Saturday, January 9.