Men’s basketball falls in road contest to SEMO

UE rally comes up short

 CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Four players finished in double figures on Wednesday evening as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team fell to Southeast Missouri State by a final of 75-73 inside the Show Me Center on Wednesday night.

Shamar Givance, Jawaun Newton and Noah Frederking each finished the night with 15 points while Blaise Beauchamp scored 11.  Evan Kuhlman led the squad with seven rebounds while Givance had a team-high seven assists.  Leading the Redhawks was Phillip Russell who had a game-high 24 points.  He hit 10 of his 16 attempts.  DQ Nicholas finished with 17.

“Our offense played well tonight, we did not have a turnover until the second half and we were getting some good looks,” UE head coach Todd Lickliter said after the game.  “On the defensive side, we missed some assignments but give SEMO credit, they did a great job.”

Neither team had success finding the bottom of the net in the opening minutes with UE going 0-for-5 and SEMO starting 0-for-2 while turning it over three times.  DQ Nicholas picked up the first basket of the night to give SEMO the early edge before Evan Kuhlman found Antoine Smith Jr. open under the basket for a dunk.  Following a Redhawk miss, Smith converted on the other end to give Evansville its first lead.

That was the first of 10 lead changes in the opening 20 minutes.  With the Aces trailing 13-12, Blaise Beauchamp came in off the bench to knock down back-to-back 3-pointers to give his team the largest advantage either team would enjoy in the half, making it an 18-13 game at the 11:07 mark.  With the half entering the last five minutes, the Redhawks jumped back in front when a Phillips Russell triple gave them a 27-25 lead.

A triple by Blake Sisley put Evansville right back in front before a scorching finish by SEMO saw them take the halftime lead.  The Redhawks hit five shots in a row while hitting four free throws in the final moments to go to the break with a 40-38 lead.  Phillip Russell led everyone with 14 points in the half while Nygal Russell had 11 boards.  Newton and Beauchamp paced Evansville with eight tallies.

Jawaun Newton opened the second half with his first triple of the night to give UE its first lead of the final stanza but SEMO turned an offensive board into a triple to retake the lead at 43-41.  The furious back-and-forth action continued when SEMO hit a triple on their end before treys by Frederking and Preston Phillips cemented Evansville’s lead at 49-47.

UE would continue to hold the lead until a basket from Nicholas gave SEMO a 51-50 edge with 13:26 remaining.  They hit a triple on the next trip down the floor to match their largest lead before Beauchamp converted a trey on the other end to break a scoreless drought of nearly four minutes.  Frederking’s third outside shot of the night tied it at 56-56 at the midway point of the final period.

With the score tied at 58-58, SEMO posted the next seven points to take their largest lead with 5:33 left.  Evansville missed six shots in a row before Shamar Givance hit a pair of free throws before a 3-point play got UE within four at 67-63.  Inside of the 4-minute mark, Noah Frederking picked up a 3-point play of his own to get his team within a possession (69-66).

The first basket of the night by Evan Kuhlman was a big one that got his squad even closer.  A triple with just over a minute remaining made it a 73-71 SEMO lead.  Trailing by two in the final seconds, UE made a last-second attempt from outside, but it fell just short.

With 12 games complete, the Aces will have 10 days off before facing UT Martin on December 18 at the Ford Center.