Aces earn 89-71 win over IU Kokomo

Williams posts first double-double

 Sophomore DeAndre Williams recorded the first double-double of his University of Evansville career to lift the Purple Aces men’s basketball team to an 89-71 win over IU Kokomo on Thursday at the Ford Center.

Williams finished the night with 23 points and a personal-best 13 boards.  He was 9-for-14 from the line.  Artur Labinowicz had his top game at UE (3-0), posting 21 points.  He was an efficient 7/8 from the field, 2/3 from outside and 5/6 from the line.  John Hall also got the job done in every way, notching 16 points, six rebounds and a block.

“It was a classic trap game and we were able to get the win; we competed and did some good things,” Aces head coach Walter McCarty said.  “It has been a crazy few days, but our guys competed and stayed the course.  I want our guys to be focused on every single detail because if you make that many mistakes against SMU, you will not beat them.”

The Cougars (6-2) saw Trequan Spivey tally 18 points while Akil McClain scored 14 and Allante Harper scored 11.

IU Kokomo had a nice start, jumping out to a 5-2 lead in the opening minutes.  Evansville did not waste any time coming back, posting six in a row with DeAndre Williams scoring twice and Noah Frederking adding a layup.  The Cougars continued to play well, tying it up at 10-10 before the triples started to fall for the Aces.  John Hall hit two in a row; his second breaking a 13-13 tie and give the Aces the lead for good.

A Williams trey on the break made it a 19-15 game at the 12:25 mark.  After IU Kokomo got within a pair at 22-20, Evansville began to take control of the game.  An 8-0 run saw the lead reach double figures for the first time.  Freshman Marcus Henderson drained two triples to cap off the run.

Sam Cunliffe found his groove.  With just under five minutes, he hit consecutive baskets to push the lead to 40-26.  Three free throws from Artur Labinowicz in the final seconds pushed the lead to a game-high 18 points at 52-34 before three IUK free throws made it a 52-37 game at the break.

Williams had a game-high 15 points at the break while Hall and Labinowicz also reached double figures.

Evansville continued to pad its lead in the second half.  After the Cougars got within 15 tallies, Williams found Labinowicz on a picture perfect feed for a layup that made it a 60-41 game at the 16-minute mark.  Shamar Givance helped the lead reach 20 (67-47) for the first time with 14:24 remaining

The lead for UE hovered around 20, but with 4:14 remaining, the Cougars got as close as 14 points (77-63) thanks to three Akil McClain free throws.  The Aces fended off the challenge, scoring the next eight to take an 85-63 lead before finishing the night with an 89-71 victory.  Labinowicz and Hall added triples to push the lead back out and avoid IU Kokomo getting any closer.

“Coach wants us to celebrate what we did, but we had to keep the identity that we had against Kentucky every single night,” Labinowicz explained.  “We are trying to be the same team every night that we were against Kentucky.”

After shooting 59.4% in the first half, the Aces finished the night at 51.6%.  IU Kokomo finished at 38.4%.  Evansville took the rebounding battle by a 45-38 total including 34-25 on the defensive glass.  With just a 48-hour turnaround since defeating #1 Kentucky, the Aces got the job done on Thursday and John Hall credited his teammates for their attitudes going into the game.

“After the other night, we celebrated just as much as everyone else, but after that, we let it go,” he said.  “We came back the next day and started preparing for tonight.  We just moved on.  It is only game three, we have done a lot so far.  What we did a few days ago would not have mattered at all if we came out and lost tonight, we knew we had to be locked in.”