UE and SIU battle down to the finish
 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Three days after scoring a career-high of 26 points, University of Evansville senior Shamar Givance recorded 31 points to lead the Purple Aces in a Missouri Valley Conference showdown at the Ford Center.
Trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half, UE (3-7, 0-1 MVC) rallied to tie Southern Illinois (4-3, 1-0 MVC) in the final minute before a last-second shot helped the Salukis edge out a win by a 54-52 final.
Givance drained 11 out of 16 attempts on his way to the new career high of 31 tallies. He was the only UE player to record double figures. Jawaun Newton scored 8 points and led the squad with five boards. Iyen Enaruna along with Givance had two assists apiece.
“Our guys showed a lot of character and heart. They changed the way they were playing and became more effective,†Aces head coach Todd Lickliter said. “We had the ball with a few chances to tie it or take the lead but could not quite get there. It was a great effort that went right down to the wire.â€
Marcus Domask led the Salukis with 22 points and 6 rebounds.
The first 13 points of the night belonged to the Salukis before Evansville got on the board when Blaise Beauchamp knocked down a triple. UE missed its first eight attempts of the night. On the ensuing possession, SIU got the triple right back before an 8-of-12 start to the game saw them go up 18-3. After Beauchamp hit the Aces next shot, Shamar Givance scored five in a row to cut the deficit to 10 at 20-10.
SIU continued to pad its lead, going up by a 32-15 score with 2:23 left in the half before a pair of late Givance free throws made it a 32-17 halftime deficit for UE. Southern Illinois finished the opening period shooting 52.0% while the Aces shot 23.8%.
Over the first three minutes of the second half, the Aces chipped away at the deficit. Givance opened with three free throws and a layup before Antoine Smith Jr. hit a triple at the 17:16 mark to make it a 34-25 game. It was the first time since the opening minutes of the game that UE was within single digits. A pair of triples from Jawaun Newton saw Evansville get even closer with his second making it a 38-31 game at the 15-minute mark. UE connected on its first three outside attempts to begin the final period.
That is when Shamar Givance absolutely took over, scoring the next 11 UE points to cut the gap to a pair. The first six points of the run saw him drive to the basket for layups before a triple at the 9:54 mark cut the gap to four. Following a Saluki miss, Givance drove down the lane once again for a basket that made it a 44-42 game with 8:57 left in the contest. Over the next four minutes, the Aces had a chance to get even closer, but two misses on the front end of a one-and-one saw SIU keep its advantage.
Marcus Domask hit a pair of free throws with 3:57 remaining to push the lead to 48-44, but it was another Givance basket that got UE back within a pair. A jumper by Givance with 2:40 left in the game saw him score 15 out of Evansville’s 17 points over a span of nearly 11 minutes.
With Evansville trailing 50-48 entering the final minute, Jawaun Newton converted a turnover into a make to tie the game up. On the other end, it was Domask hitting a layup to put the Salukis back in front with 33 ticks showing on the clock. Nineteen second later, Givance hit his 11th basket of the game to tie the score once again, but the winning shot came with 0.6 remaining when Domask hit a jumper just outside the paint to clinch the win. Evansville made one final heave down the floor but fell just short.
On Saturday, the Aces will be back home for a 1 p.m. game at the Ford Center against Tennessee Tech.
