Aces drop 77-72 decision
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Trailing by as many as 22 points in the second half, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team stormed back to get within two points before Middle Tennessee State finished with the 77-72 victory on Wednesday inside the Ford Center.
Facing a 61-39 deficit with 9:56 remaining, the Purple Aces outscored the Blue Raiders by a 33-13 margin to make it a 2-point game with 13 seconds remaining. MTSU fended off the challenge to take the win by five points.
“It is disappointing to lose at home but there are some positives to take from the game,” Evansville head coach David Ragland said. “To be down 22 and get back within a possession shows the character of our guys. I’m proud of how we responded; we need to be ready to get better.”
Connor Turnbull led five double digit scorers with a season-high 16 points. Bryce Quinet and Keishon Porter scored 14 each while Josh Hughes and AJ Casey registered 12 apiece. Hughes led all players with seven boards while Moeller added five assists. Quinet notched three steals in the contest. MTSU was led by Kamari Lands’ 23 points.
Over the opening three minutes of the game, Middle Tennessee State held multiple leads. After taking a 4-2 edge the Blue Raiders went up 9-7. Following a pair of free throws, Connor Turnbull knocked down a jumper to give UE an 11-9 lead at the 15:23 mark. The teams swapped the lead before Leif Moeller found Josh Hughes for a dunk that gave Evansville a 15-14 edge.
MTSU countered with an 8-0 stretch to go up 22-15 entering the final nine minutes of the period as they converted four consecutive field goal tries. Their lead reached nine at 28-19 with 7:22 on the clock. UE clawed its way back as two AJ Casey free throws were followed by baskets from Turnbull, Hughes, and Keishon Porter to cut the gap two 28-26.
Over the final three minutes, Middle Tennessee State scored the final six points to take a 36-28 lead at the half. Turnbull led the Aces with 10 at the half while Kamari Lands led all players with 13. MTSU hit five triples while limiting UE to one over the first 20 minutes of play.
In the opening minutes of the second half, MTSU scored the first four points to open a 40-28 advantage. A dunk by Turnbull marked UE’s first points of the half at the 17:05 mark. One minute later, AJ Casey’s 3-point play made it a 40-33 game. Over the next three minutes, the lead for the Blue Raiders remained around 11 points before another rally saw their lead grow even more.
An 8-0 run pushed the lead to 55-37 entering the last 12 minutes before it reached 22 points (61-39) two minutes later. Consecutive baskets by Porter opened a 9-2 run that was capped by a Hughes triple to cut the deficit to 15 (63-48). Evansville was not done yet. Inside four minutes remaining, two more Casey free throws were followed by Porter’s sixth field goal of the night to make it a 9-point game.
Two offensive rebounds by the Blue Raiders on their next possession saw them run a minute off the clock, but the defense kept them off the board. On the other end, Porter converted two free throws to cut the MTSU advantage to 71-64 with 1:16 remaining. On the inbound pass, UE forced a steal and Casey hit a layup to make it a 5-point game.
On the other end, MTSU hit a free throw to go back up by six. Leif Moeller drained his first triple of the evening on the other end to make it a 1-possession game with 45 seconds left. Evansville utilized an 11-1 run to chop the deficit down to three while hitting 10 out of 12 shots. The defense held MTSU to five consecutive misses and a 1-for-8 stretch. The drought for the Blue Raiders ended with under 20 seconds left when a basket pushed the lead to two possessions at 74-69.
UE made another final push as Bryce Quinet’s 3-point play got his squad within two. Unfortunately, it was not enough as MTSU finished with the 5-point win. The Blue Raiders shot 49.2% while the Aces were just behind at 48.1%. They also finished with a 35-31 rebounding edge.
Evansville is back at the Ford Center on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game against UT Arlington.
