Aces defeat Valpo in River City game
UE shoots 50% in the victory
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sporting a “River City” look on Sunday at the Ford Center, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team outscored Valparaiso by a 39-25 margin in the second half to pull away for a 79-69 victory.
Connor Turnbull put together another career performance, scoring 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting. He added six boards, three blocks, and three assists. Tayshawn Comer picked up a double-double with 17 points and 11 assists. He was a perfect 10-for-10 from the line. Gabriel Pozzato added 12 points while Josh Hughes finished with 11.
“I thought we did a great job of sharing the ball; having 18 assists was great for us. On the other side, we switched up defenses and had a good sense of urgency to keep them off balance,” UE head coach David Ragland exclaimed. “As we go into the next two games on the road, we need to bring that same sense of urgency that we had in the second half for the entire 40 minutes.”
Valparaiso had a big start, jumping out to a 9-2 lead. The Beacons connected on their opening five attempts on their way to a 13-6 lead in the first four minutes. Connor Turnbull registered UE’s first four points and finished with a game-high 10 in the first half. Evansville made it a 3-point game at 13-10 on a Josh Hughes basket, but Valpo regrouped to retake a 7-point lead, going up 19-12 with 12:30 remaining in the period.
Approaching the midway point of the period, the Aces made their move. Trailing 24-19, Evansville scored seven in a row to take its first lead of the night at 26-24. Tayshawn Comer got things started with a layup while Kaia Berridge followed with the tying 3-pointer. A pair of Comer free throws finished the run to put UE in front.
It did not take long for the Beacons to counter as they scored the next six tallies to go back in front. With 5:31 remaining the stanza, Josh Hughes drained a triple to tie the game at 32-32 while the Beacons would go up six (42-36) inside of the 3-minute mark. A late bucket by the Aces made it a 44-40 game at halftime.
Out of the break, Valparaiso took its largest lead of the game (49-41) just over two minutes in. The Aces fought back with Turnbull picking up another basket and three free throws while Comer followed with a steal and dunk that cut the deficit to one at 51-50 with 13:42 remaining. Turnbull kept it going once again, scoring the next four to take a 54-51 lead entering the final 12 minutes. The second basket gave him 21 points, eclipsing his previous mark of 20.
Entering the final seven minutes, Gabriel Pozzato knocked down all three free throws to push the lead to six points. Just over two minutes later, a 3-pointer by Comer and another field goal by Turnbull gave the Aces their largest advantage of the game at 68-59.
A quick spurt by the Beacons got them within five before UE scored the next five to go up by double figures. Hughes’ second triple of the night capped the run. UE finished things off from there, earning the 79-69 win.
Four Valpo players reached double figures with All Wright leading the way with 17. After trailing by a 44-40 margin at halftime, UE outscored the Beacons by a 39-25 margin to rally in the second half. The Aces finished the night shooting 50% while Valpo finished at 40.4%. UE also finished with a 32-29 rebounding advantage.
Next up for UE is a 2-game road trip beginning on Wednesday at Indiana State before heading to UIC for a Saturday matinee.
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