Panthers finish with 62-48 victory
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the fourth time in five Missouri Valley Conference games, AJ Casey reached double figures to pace the University of Evansville men’s basketball team in a 62-48 loss to Northern Iowa on Sunday afternoon at the Ford Center.
Casey recorded a game-high 17 points hitting seven of his nine field goal tries. He tied for the team high with five boards. Connor Turnbull registered 12 points while blocking two Panther shots. Ben Schwieger led a balanced UNI attack with 14 points. Seven different Panther players scored at least six points.
“Northern Iowa is a really good team who is similar to Illinois State. They are one of the top defensive teams in the nation and that poses difficulties for any opponent,” UE head coach David Ragland said. “I thought we did a really good job defensively against their top two scorers but did not do as well against their supporting cast. Once you dig a hole like we did in the first half, it is hard to climb out of.”
Connor Turnbull tied the game at 2-2 just over two minutes in before the Panthers converted back-to-back triples to take an 8-2 advantage Following a 1-for-7 start from the field, AJ Casey converted consecutive baskets to cut the UNI lead to 11-6. With just under 13 minutes left in the half, the fourth consecutive 3-pointer by the Panthers extended their lead to 14-6.
Casey’s third basket of the game made it a 6-point game at 14-8 with 11:35 showing on the clock. The defense for the Panthers took over at that point holding the Aces off the scoreboard for the next 5:32 while the offense scored nine in a row to take its largest lead at 23-8. Evansville missed four shots during the stretch while committing five turnovers.
Leif Moeller’s first basket of the afternoon ended the cold streak while Turnbull and Casey added field goals in a 6-0 spurt that cut the deficit to single digits (23-14) with 4:39 remaining in the period. UNI quickly responded with three triples over the next two minutes to extend its lead to 32-14. UE posted the next four points before a basket at the buzzer sent the Panthers into the break with a 34-18 edge. Over the first 20 minutes, UNI was 8-for-15 from downtown while the Aces were 0-for-6. Casey had 10 of Evansville’s 18 first-half tallies.
Baskets by Turnbull and Moeller in the opening two minutes of the final period cut the gap to 12 points, but another run by UNI gave them their first 20-point lead at 44-24 inside of the 14-minute mark. UE did not give up and worked to chip away in the final minutes. Alex Hemenway’s triple got the Aces within 13 (52-39) with 6:29 left, but the Panthers went back up by 18 before completing the day with a 62-48 win.
The Panthers shot 45.8% for the game while UE shot 42.2% including 11-of-22 in the second half. UNI had a 33-25 rebounding lead.
Another home game is on tap Wednesday when the Aces welcome Murray State at 7 p.m.
