Hughes leads Evansville with 15 points
 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Finishing the day shooting an even 50% from the field, Belmont defeated the University of Evansville men’s basketball team by a final score of 83-66 on Sunday afternoon in the Curb Event Center.
Three Purple Aces reached double figures with Josh Hughes pacing the team with 15 points. He connected on six of his 11 attempts including three triples. Kenny Strawbridge Jr. was just behind with 14 points while Cam Haffner finished with 10. Hughes and Strawbridge led the Purple Aces with eight rebounds apiece. Five Bruins scored in double digits with Ja’Kobi Gillespie recording a game-high 18 points.
“We were able to mix some different groups and show a few different schemes today and gave ourselves a chance to compete. I thought we started very well, especially on the defensive side,†UE head coach David Ragland said. “Belmont is a great team and we knew they would come back. They punched us in the mouth a little bit but our guys never gave up and kept fighting.â€
Josh Hughes had it going in the early moments, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers to give the Purple Aces a 6-0 lead. Defensively, UE held the Bruins to a 0-for-4 start from the field with Kenny Strawbridge Jr. connecting on a layup to solidify an 8-0 lead before the first media timeout of the game.
After getting on the board, Belmont scored seven in a row to cut their deficit to 8-7 at the 14:10 mark. Evansville continued to set the pace as a layup from Antonio Thomas pushed the lead to 12-7 before his first 3-point make of the game pushed the lead to 17-9 just past the midway point of the half.
Belmont stormed back to tie the score with an 8-0 stretch inside of the 8-minute mark before Gage Bobe hit from downtown to put the lead right back in the Aces hands. A 9-0 run by the Bruins saw them take their first lead of the day at 26-20 as the period entered its final five minutes. Their largest advantage came after a three in the final seconds of the half that made it a 38-26 game at the break.
Out of the half, the Bruins scored 15 of the first 19 points to open a 53-30 lead. With 10:30 left in the game, their lead reached 26 points at 67-41. Evansville continued to play hard, posting the next seven tallies as Hughes knocked down another triple. Things continued to hover around 20 points with the Aces getting within 17 and Belmont pushing the lead to 22 in the final three minutes.
In the end, the final deficit finished at 17 as Belmont took the game by a final of 83-66. BU shot 50% on the day with the Aces finishing at 36.2%.
Arch Madness will begin on Thursday with the Aces entering as the #10 seed and facing the #7 seed Illinois State in St. Louis. Tip is set for 6 p.m.
