UE falls to Valpo in Arch Madness opener

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UE drops 81-59 contest to Valparaiso

 

  1. LOUIS – Fifth-year players Noah Frederking and Evan Kuhlman recorded 13 points apiece in Thursday’s Arch Madness game that saw the University of Evansville men’s basketball team fall to Valparaiso by a final of 81-59 inside the Enterprise Center.

Freshman Blake Sisley matched the team-high with 13 tallies while Shamar Givance finished the night with 10 for the Purple Aces.  Frederking led the team with six rebounds while Givance dished out a game-high six assists.  Valparaiso was led by 18-point efforts from Kobe King and Sheldon Edwards.

“Valpo moved the ball very well in the first half and made us pay for not getting to the shooters,” UE head coach Todd Lickliter said after the contest.   “To our guys credit, we came out in the second half and cut the deficit to four.  It was one of those games that we did not have enough to make the run.”

After Valparaiso jumped out to an 8-2 lead, Noah Frederking knocked down a triple to make it a 3-point game.  The Beacons knocked down their first four outside attempts to take a 16-7 advantage at the first media time out of the night.  At the 9:05 mark, the Valpo lead reached its highest of the half at 28-13 on a dunk by Ben Krikke.

Evansville responded with an 11-5 stretch that cut the gap down to nine points with Shamar Givance and Blaise Beauchamp supplying 3-pointers.  Over the last six minutes of the period, the Beacons added a pair to the lead and took a 43-32 advantage into the break.

Blake Sisley opened the second half with a hook shot to mark the start of a 7-0 UE run, which chopped the VU lead to just four points.  Evan Kuhlman knocked down a 3-pointer before Givance forced a steal and turned it into another field goal to make it a 43-39 game just over two minutes into the final half.

Six in a row from Valparaiso pushed their lead back to 10 and they would stretch it out to 13 points when a Thomas Kithier layup made it a 65-52 game with 7:15 remaining.  Four minutes later, Valpo’s 10th triple of the game gave them their largest lead at 16 points (73-57) before finishing the evening with the 81-59 victory.

Valparaiso shot 58.3% on the night with the Aces finishing at 44.2%.  The Beacons completed the game with a 31-20 edge on the boards.

Jawaun Newton made his return to the floor after missing the last eight games and played seven minutes.  He hit a free throw and grabbed a rebound.

 

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