Aces fight to the finish against conference leaders
 A trio of Purple Aces led the way with 14 points with the University of Evansville men’s basketball team putting up a stellar fight before finishing the day with an 80-68 loss to MVC-leading UNI on Saturday at the Ford Center.
Trailing by 14 at halftime, Evansville (9-14, 0-10 MVC) made its first eight attempts in the second half to get within four points before UNI (19-3, 8-2 MVC) overcame the challenge to finish off the win.
Evan Kuhlman tied his career mark with 14 points, knocking down an efficient five out of seven field goal attempts. Sam Cunliffe and K.J. Riley matched his point total, combining to hit 11 shots. Riley added four free throws to his season tally with his squad combining to his 13 out of 16 attempts. UE shot 26.9% in the opening 20 minutes before knocking down 69.2% of their tries in the latter period.
“I am very thankful to be part of it and coach these guys – they are really good people,†Aces head coach Todd Lickliter explained following the game. “I did not think the first half was all that bad, we generated some good shots and if they went down, it would have been a better half.â€
“At the break, I told them that I was thankful that they guarded so hard because the way things were going offensively, the only chance we had was to guard and we did a nice job of that,†Lickliter added. “I knew that the shots would start to fall.â€
A defensive struggle ensued in the first half with UNI making a late rally to go to the half with a 30-16 advantage. The teams combined for a 1-6 offensive start before the Panthers got on track with six in a row to go up 8-2. UNI got on track and used a 6-for-12 start to go up 14-5 as the midway point of the half approached.
Evansville cut into the deficit with an Evan Kuhlman free throw and a bucket by John Hall that made it a 14-8 contest. That is when defense took over. For a stretch of five minutes, the squads hit just two out of 22 attempts before UNI snapped out of the stretch with back-to-back layups that gave them their first double digit lead with 4:11 left, forcing an Aces time out.
Jawaun Newton and Sam Cunliffe responded with baskets that got the Aces back within seven points (19-12), but over the final 2:35 of the half, the Panthers outscored the Aces by an 11-4 margin to take the 14-point halftime lead.
The offense for the Purple Aces came out on fire in the second half, hitting its first eight shots while getting within four points of the Panthers. UNI posted the first two points of the half before Evan Kuhlman nailed UE’s first 3-pointer of the game. Cunliffe followed up with another before a pair of Kuhlman free throws cut the deficit back to single digits – 35-26 – just over two minutes in.
UE got even closer, utilizing a 7-0 run that was capped off by a 3-point play from Riley two minutes later that made it a 38-33 game. With 14:52 left in the contest, Jawaun Newton added to Evansville’s blazing second half, hitting a triple that brought UE within four at 40-36. Evansville did not miss its first shot of the half until 7:13 had gone by.
One of the defining moments for UNI came right after UE made it a 4-point game. A Trae Berhow 3-pointer started an 8-0 run that pushed their lead back out to 12. The lead for the Panthers was pushed out to 13 points with just over eight minutes left before the Aces made another push. A quick 6-0 run saw the gap trimmed to seven points with 6:16 on the clock, but the Panthers answered each time.
In the end, UNI was able to fend off the challenge to take the 80-68 victory. Evansville overcame a tough first half that saw them shoot 26.9%, rebounding to hit 18 out of 26 attempts in the final 20 minutes – 69.2% – to finish the game at 48.1%. The Panthers wrapped up the day shooting 50%. UNI had a slight 30-28 edge in the final rebounding tally. Austin Phyfe was 6-for-6 from the field on his way to a team-high 16 points while AJ Green and Berhow notched 15 each.
On Wednesday, UE is back home to welcome Southern Illinois to the Ford Center for a 6 p.m. game.
