EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Converting 7 of his 12 attempts from long range, freshman Josh Hughes recorded a career-high 22 points as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team fell to Missouri State by a final of 74-64 inside the Ford Center on Saturday evening.
“Overall, I am happy with the mindset that we had tonight. It felt like progress in the right direction. We felt like that last two games were not characteristic of how we are as a team. We came out and punched first tonight,†Purple Aces head men’s basketball coach David Ragland exclaimed. “Missouri State did a good job of responding to that and it was a back-and-forth bout. There are a few fixable things that we can improve on from tonight and get better.â€
Hughes eclipsed his previous career mark of 21 points, which came in November against Southeast Missouri State. Antonio Thomas finished the night with 15 points, hitting two triples and five free throws. Yacine Toumi and Kenny Strawbridge Jr. both approached double-doubles. Strawbridge recorded 9 points and 10 rebounds while Toumi posted 8 points and 12 caroms. N.J. Benson paced MSU with 22 points and 13 caroms.
Two offensive rebounds on the first UE possession of the game resulted in a basket by Yacine Toumi as the Purple Aces recorded the opening four points of the game. Josh Hughes drained a triple to extend the lead to 7-2. Nearly four minutes in, Gage Bobe saved the basketball from going out of bounds and connected on a 3-pointer in the same possession to make it a 10-4 game.
Five in a row from the Bears saw them cut the Evansville lead to a point before tying it up at 15-15 with 12:54 remaining in the half. Hughes drained his third triple of the evening to cap a 5-0 run and make it a 20-15 game. The next four minutes belonged to Missouri State as they reeled off 11 points in a row to take a 26-20 lead inside of the 9-minute mark. UE missed three shots and turned the ball over twice during the MSU run.
Antonio Thomas, who tied for the game-high with 11 points in the first half, connected from downtown to end the run. With 4:45 on the clock, Thomas gave the Aces a 31-30 lead on a free throw. In the final minute, the squads swapped the lead before Missouri State hit the final basket to take a 36-35 halftime advantage.
Out of the break, MSU scored the opening six points to take their largest lead of seven. Hughes got Evansville back on the board with his fourth outside conversion. Unfortunately, the Bears added to their lead. Inside of the 13-minute mark, they took their first double figure lead at 53-43 and would push the lead to 13 tallies (58-45).
Refusing to give up, Evansville drained back-to-back triples to get back to single digits entering the final eight minutes. Kenny Strawbridge Jr. and Hughes hit the triples. Missouri State countered to push the lead back out to a 69-53 margin as the contest moved into the final four minutes. Hughes did his best to keep his squad in it, converting a 4-point play and another triple to make it a 69-60 game with two minutes left. Thomas knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 69-62 with 1:34 left.
The Bears fended off the challenge and completed the night with the 10-point win. MSU shot 46.4% while holding UE to 33.9%. On the boards, MSU had a 42-36 advantage. Evansville is back at the Ford Center on Wednesday, welcoming Valparaiso for a 7 p.m. game.
