 ESTERO, Fla. – Less than 24 hours after playing a triple overtime game against Rice, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team was right back in action on Tuesday in the first-ever meeting against Vermont at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
After trailing by one at the half, the Purple Aces (2-5) dropped the contest to the Catamounts (4-2) by a final of 58-49. Jawaun Newton followed up Monday’s career effort with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He added three rebounds and connected on four 3-pointers. Noah Frederking added nine points and a team-high seven boards. Leading Vermont was Isaiah Powell with 17 points.
After completing the first 30-point game of his career, Jawaun Newton came out on fire once again, knocking down two early 3-pointers to give the Aces an 8-2 lead four minutes into the game. Vermont rallied to tie it up at 10-10 on a 3-point play at the 11:51 mark.
The next segment belonged to Evansville, who outscored the Catamounts by a 9-2 margin to take its largest lead at 19-12. Noah Frederking got it started with a jumper before Blaise Beauchamp connected on his first basket of the game. It was Newton who capped off the run, posting the final five points to give the Aces the 19-12 lead with 7:36 remaining in the half.
Evansville’s lead remained at seven (23-16) with 3:41 on the clock, but over the final minutes, Vermont made its way back into the contest before eventually taking the lead. The Catamounts recorded the final 8 points of the half including a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds to take the first lead of the game at 24-23. UE missed its final three shots while turning it over twice. Newton led all scorers with 11 in the opening stanza.
Vermont scored first out of the half before extending the advantage to eight points at 33-25. Over a stretch of 9:15, the Catamounts outscored the Aces by a 17-2 margin when the run wrapped up with 14:26 left. A 3-point play by Newton along with a triple from Gage Bobe helped the Aces cut the deficit to three, but Vermont would slowly extend its lead, pushing the edge to 42-33 as the game entered its final nine minutes.
With two minutes remaining, the Vermont lead reached a game-high 16 points (56-40) before UE was able to close in the final minutes, leading to a final of 58-49. UE completes the Gulf Coast Showcase on Wednesday at 11 a.m. against either Appalachian State or Akron.
