Drake Defeats UE basketball, 78-66, In Des Moines

UE Heads To UNI On Saturday

 John Hall and Marty Hill posted 13 points apiece as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team fell by a final of 78-66 on Wednesday night inside the Knapp Center.

“Our guys had to fight an uphill battle tonight, they played really hard,” UE head coach Walter McCarty said.  “I told them to hold their heads up, I was proud of their effort.”

Hall and Hill paced the Purple Aces (9-11, 3-4 MVC) with their final tallies.  Both also led the squad with seven rebounds.  K.J. Riley finished the evening with 12 points while going a perfect 6-of-6 from the line.  Leading the way for Drake (15-5, 4-3 MVC) was Nick McGlynn, who posted 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Triples were falling early for the Aces, who jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first minute of play.  The Bulldogs responded with eight in a row to open up a 10-6 lead.  Noah Thomas registered the first six points of the game for Drake.  Kuhlman got the Aces right back on track with his second from outside to make it a 10-9 game in favor of the Bulldogs at the 4-minute mark.

Drake pushed its lead to the largest of the half at 26-18 with 6:19 remaining in the half, but the Aces were able to close in.  Marty Hill and Shamar Givance his consecutive buckets to get the deficit back to four points and that is where it would stand at the break with the Bulldogs taking a 35-31 lead into the break.

In the first minute of the second half, Drake pushed its lead to 40-31 as they scored the opening five tallies.  Just as they have all season, UE pushed back as baskets by Hall and Hill made it a 40-35 game just over three minutes into the final 20 minutes. Evansville was able to stay within five to seven points, but midway through the second half, Drake took a 58-46 lead on a D.J. Wilkins layup.  It was the final spurt in a 6-0 run.

K.J. Riley knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the DU lead to ten points, but Drake rallied right back with seven in a row as their 15-2 run put them up by a score of 67-48 with eight minutes left in the contest.  That was the largest lead for the Bulldogs before they finished the night with the 78-66 win.

UE will remain in Iowa until Saturday evening when they take on UNI in a 7 p.m. contest in Cedar Falls.