JUST IN: Aces Open Home Schedule With A Win

Aces open home schedule with a win over EIU

Evansville puts an end to losing streak

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A new home season brought renewed optimism for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team, who opened up its home schedule with a hard-fought 68-65 victory over Eastern Illinois inside the Ford Center.

The win marked the first under the direction of head coach Todd Lickliter and put an end to a 22-game winless streak.  Evansville (1-3) has knocked on the door a few times in the early part of the season and was able to put it all together tonight.

“These guys earned it and that is what made it fun.  I thought we earned it in the first half with our defense,” Lickliter said.  “I am so proud to be the head coach at Evansville and it is fun to coach a team who is together, supports one another and pulls for one another; I will never take that for granted because that does not always happen.  This group is truly supportive of one another.  Eastern Illinois is a good team and this was a good stepping stone.”

Seeing his first action of the season, Jawaun Newton scored a career-high 19 points.  He did most of his damage from the free-throw line, draining 11 of his 13 tries.  Evan Kuhlman finished with 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds while Jax Levitch, Shamar Givance and Noah Frederking scored 11 points apiece.

“I felt good; I wanted to bring energy tonight and keep us all together,” Newton exclaimed.  “When we keep the ball moving like we did tonight, we are really tough to guard.”

Eastern Illinois (2-4) was led by Josiah Wallace and Marvin Johnson, who scored 17 points apiece.

Evansville owned the first half of play, holding the Panthers to just 19 points on the way to a 15-point halftime lead.  Jax Levitch got the night started with a triple before his team established a 12-6 edge at the 13:14 mark.  All five starters scored in the opening sequence.  After EIU cut the UE lead to four, the Purple Aces rallied with an 8-0 run to push the lead to double figures for the first time at 21-8.  Frederking drilled a triple in the run before a long ball from Kuhlman capped off the run with 8:17 on the clock.

A quick jolt saw Eastern Illinois get within six tallies (23-17) with just over five minutes left, but the Aces completed the opening stanza on an 11-2 run as they opened their largest lead of the game – 34-19 – heading into the break.  Newton had four points in the stretch as the Aces had the momentum going into the final 20 minutes.  The Aces defense held EIU to just 33.3% (7/21) shooting in the first half.

Just as things were turning Evansville’s way, the Panthers came out of the half red hot.  Over the first four minutes, EIU hit its first six baskets, including three triples, to get within five points.  Shamar Givance got his squad back on track with a second chance layup before Levitch was true from downtown to push the lead back to 10 with 14:28 remaining.

Another spurt by the Panthers knotted the game at 50-50 as the game entered the final eight minutes.  Kashawn Charles turned an offensive rebound into the game-tying triple with 7:28 left.  One of the turning points came just over three minutes later when Givance intercepted a Panther pass and took it the length of the floor to extend the lead to 62-57 at the final media time out.  Neither team would find the bottom of the rim over the next three minutes until Marvin Johnson hit a basket with 70 ticks on the clock to get his team back within three.

Over the final minute, the Aces fended off the late challenge, hitting four out of five free throws, to clinch its first win of the season.

UE finished with a 28-27 rebounding edge while outshooting the Panthers by a 49.8%-46.2% margin.

A quick turnaround will see the Aces back in action on Saturday with a trip to Saint Louis.  The 2 p.m. game will be carried live by NBC Sports Network.

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