Casey scored 24 points versus the Racers
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – AJ Casey reset his career scoring mark as he finished with 24 points on Wednesday evening to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team in a 79-69 loss to Murray State at the Ford Center.
Another efficient shooting effort saw Casey go 10-of-13 from the floor while adding a triple and five boards. He is the first UE player this season to record 10 field goals in a game. Josh Hughes scored 14 points while Bryce Quinet added 13. James Dyson-Merwe led the team with six boards while Leif Moeller added five assists.
“Our effort tonight was really good. We did a nice job of executing our game plan especially in the first half,” UE head coach David Ragland said. “They finished the first half on a 12-0 run, but I am proud of how we fought back throughout the second half. Towards the end of the game, we had a few guys in foul trouble and Murray State was able to rotate guys in and that made a difference. Our group left everything out on the floor tonight and played for one another.”
Murray State hit its first three shots to take a 6-2 advantage. AJ Casey had a nice start for the Purple Aces scoring his team’s opening seven tallies as MSU held an 8-7 edge just over two minutes in. Bryce Quinet’s 3-point play put Evansville in front for the first time at 10-8 as UE would lead throughout the middle portion of the half.
Trent Hundley’s layup solidified a 14-11 edge at the 12:25 mark before two Quinet free throws with 8:17 left in the period gave UE its largest lead of the half at 20-16. Evansville’s defense held the Racers to 2-for-10 over the stretch as UE wrestled away the two-possession advantage.
The Racers stormed back with nine in a row to retake a 25-20 lead entering the final six minutes of the period, however, the Aces answered ones again when James Dyson-Merwe tied the game at 30-30 with 2:50 remaining until the break. Murray State regained control in the final moments, outscoring UE by a 12-0 margin to take a 42-30 lead into halftime. MSU drained their final four shots, including a pair of triples, to take the double-digit advantage.
Josh Hughes and Casey posted the first two field goals of the second half to quickly cut the deficit to eight. With MSU up 45-35, UE got even closer when Dyson-Merwe and Quinet converted back-to-back buckets to make it a 45-39 game inside of the 17-minute mark. Following a Racer score, the Aces continued to fight back with AJ Casey doing the damage. Six in a row by the senior got his squad all the way back within two points (47-45) with 14:56 on the clock. Casey’s efforts capped a 15-5 start to the stanza by the Purple Aces.
Holding onto a 49-47 edge, Murray State slowly added to its lead with a pair of free throws at the 10:30 mark that pushed the lead to 58-51. The Aces refused to give in and continued to claw their way back. Six in a row over the next 1:16 made it a 1-point game. Alex Hemenway got things rolling with a jumper while Kaia Berridge found Hughes for the alley-oop before Quinet completed the stretch with a layup.
UE remained within a possession over the next two minutes before the Racers slowly took control. A triple by JJ Traynor pushed the lead back to seven (68-61) with 6:37 left before a jumper gave MSU a 74-63 edge as the game entered its final three minutes. In total, the Racers outscored UE by a 16-4 margin to take their largest lead of 14 points as they turned a 63-61 lead into a 79-65 advantage. They held UE to 2-of-9 from the field while forcing a pair of turnovers.
A pair of late baskets closed the gap in the final moments as the Racers finished the night with a 79-69 victory. Evansville shot a season-high 50.9% while holding the Racers to 45.8%. The Racers connected on seven triples while UE was 1-for-12 from long distance. MSU also finished with a 36-32 rebounding advantage.
On Saturday, the Aces travel to Indiana State for a 12 p.m. CST game against the Sycamores inside the Hulman Center.
