Aces drop 94-56 contest in Normal
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NORMAL, Ill. – Friday’s home-and-home opener saw Illinois State score the first six points of the game before erupting in the second half to defeat the University of Evansville men’s basketball team by a final of 94-56 at Redbird Arena.
Jawaun Newton and Blake Sisley led the Purple Aces (4-13, 0-6 MVC) with 10 points apiece. Newton led UE with six rebounds while Sisley’s effort was his second double figure game of his freshman campaign. His top tally of 12 points came in a December win over Tennessee Tech. Four Redbirds (10-9, 3-3 MVC) scored in double figures with Antonio Reeves leading the way with 16.
Illinois State scored the opening six points of the contest before Shamar Givance put UE on the board with a pair of triples that made it an 8-6 game in favor of the Redbirds. Noah Frederking connected on Evansville’s third trey to make it a 10-9 ISU lead at the 16:48 mark. While the UE offense was doing a solid job of finding the bottom of the net, Illinois State scorched the nets, hitting 8 of their first 10 attempts to go up 22-12.
The lead for ISU was pushed to 26-11 nine minutes into the game before the Aces chipped away. Triples by Preston Phillips, Antoine Smith Jr. and Gage Bobe highlighted a 12-4 stretch to get UE within seven with 7:29 remaining in the half. With just over five minutes on the clock, ISU pushed the advantage back out to 14 points before UE cut the deficit to 44-34 at the half. Both teams shot very well in the opening 20 minutes with ISU knocking down. 62.1% of their attempts while UIE finished at 48.3%.
Out of the break, the first five points belonged to the Redbirds as they opened their largest lead at 53-36 in the opening four minutes. What would end up being a 19-2 stretch to go up 68-38 and their lead would reach 40 before the Redbirds finished with the 94-56 win. ISU shot 70.2% for the game with the Aces finishing at 43.1%.
Game two of the home-and-home will take place on Sunday with a 1 p.m. tip at the Ford Center.
