Late rally lifts Panthers to 64-61 win
Senior Noah Frederking had his best game in over two years, recording 20 points in a close 64-61 loss to Prairie View A&M on Friday afternoon in the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic inside the KFC Yum! Center.
Frederking connected on six shots and drained all five free throws for the Purple Aces (0-2). Shamar Givance followed up his season-opening tally of 10 points by recording 13. Trey Hall and Evan Kuhlman scored 8 and 7 points, respectively. Hall tied for the game high with eight rebounds.
“In this situation, these non-conference games are almost like practice exams. You find out a lot about your teammates, try to solve problems and have to grow through the games more than anything,†Aces head coach Todd Lickliter said. “We’re going to have some growing pains; it is hard because you are competitive and want to get the win, but this experience has been good for us. This was a healthy, safe environment where you could coach while you are out there. We think we have enough to compete and play well in our league, but we just need to continue to develop.â€
The improvement from the season opener was evident with the Aces becoming more acclimated to playing as a team while also facing live competition again.
“We played leaps and bounds better than we did two days ago,†Frederking commented. “That was very encouraging. We’re getting there and getting better. We just need to play better as a team. “
UE had a perfect start to the contest as it knocked down its first six attempts of the day to grab a 16-6 lead. After Noah Frederking hit a basket on the first possession, Shamar Givance and Evan Kuhlman drilled back-to-back triples.
Two more triples courtesy of Hall and Frederking capped off the opening moments. The Panthers (1-1) quickly fought back, using an 11-1 stretch to tie the game at 17-17 with under 11 minutes left in the half. Iyen Enaruna got his team back on track with a drive to the basket before Hall converted an and-one to complete a 5-0 run that put Evansville back in front.
Prairie View A&M countered with six in a row as they took their first lead of the day at 23-22 on a Dewayne Cox layup at the 6:32 mark. Facing their first deficit of the afternoon, the Aces put together another nice run – reeling off seven in a row. Enaruna added three tallies before an Alex Matthews field goal pushed the lead to six points – 29-23 – inside of the 4-minute mark.
Back-and-forth action continued with a Panther run that gave them their second lead of the day at 32-31 with 1:11 on the clock, but just as they did on Wednesday, the Aces finished the first half with a triple with Frederking sending his team to the break with a 34-32 edge.
In the opening minutes of the second half, neither team could reach its offensive groove, combining to hit 2 of their first 12 shots. Prairie View was able to tie the game up at 36 with 14 minutes remaining, but it was Gage Bobe giving his team the lead on the other end. The first basket of his college career gave Evansville a 38-36 lead.
As the final 20 minutes reached the halfway point, the Panthers put together another rally, hitting six out of seven attempts to grab a 51-49 lead inside of the 9-minute mark. Their rally continued with a 10-0 stretch that pushed the lead to nine points with 3:58 on the clock. Evansville missed five shots while turning it over three times.
Trailing by seven at the 2-minute mark, the Aces never gave up. With 16 ticks remaining, a triple by Frederking cut the deficit to three. Two missed Panther free throws gave the ball back to the Aces with a chance to tie. Evansville had an open lock at the game-tying basket, but came up just short.
D’Rell Roberts paced the Prairie View squad with 15 points while Jawaun Daniels added 13. PVAMU shot 40.4% with the Aces finishing the day at 35.7%. The battle of the boards saw the Panthers finish with a 42-40 edge.
