UE looks to rebound on Wednesday against Bradley
Sophomore DeAndre Williams led the University of Evansville with 28 points, but Javon Freeman-Liberty countered with 25 to lift Valparaiso to an 81-79 overtime win against the Purple Aces on Saturday at the Ford Center.
Williams was 11-of-13 from the floor and hit all three 3-point tries. Artur Labinowicz had another efficient game posting 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Sam Cunliffe had 15 points while K.J. Riley had a double-double with 12 points and 10 caroms for UE (9-6, 0-2 MVC).
Leading the Crusaders (8-7, 1-1 MVC) with 25 points was Freeman-Liberty. He hit eight field goals and all six free throws. Eron Gordon scored 11.
“We had a few tough turnovers down the stretch, I feel if we could have hung on to one or two of them, it could have been a different result,†UE interim head coach Bennie Seltzer said. “Our kids are resilient, this one hurts. Our guys played their hearts out; but we will get back to practice and be ready for Wednesday.â€
“The crowd was awesome, they were loud and you could feel the intensity. They were pulling for us and that felt good.â€
Sam Cunliffe helped the Aces open the game by scoring the first five points. After DeAndre Williams got things started with a layup, Cunliffe drilled a three. Valparaiso responded with its first run of the game, posting the next seven to take a 7-5 lead. Daniel Sackey hit a triple to finish the run.
A 19-4 Valpo run continued as they took their largest lead of the half at 19-9 when a Ben Krikke basket came with 13 minutes on the clock. Evansville countered with a run of its own, outscoring the Crusaders by a 17-5 margin over the next eight minutes. A 5-0 spurt got it started with Williams adding his second field goal before Artur Labinowicz drained a triple on a feed from Shamar Givance.
After Valparaiso went back up by eight points (24-16), the Aces reeled off ten in a row. Cunliffe added two more baskets, including his second from outside. Following a pair of K.J. Riley free throws, Labinowicz connected on his second triple to put the Aces in front at 26-24 with just over five minutes left in the half.
The final minutes of the half saw the Crusaders wrestle away a 36-31 halftime lead. Inside the final ten seconds, Javon Freeman-Liberty connected on a three to push their lead to five.
DeAndre Williams dished it to Labinowicz for a dunk to begin the second half, but Valpo the outside shooting for Valpo kept them in front. Over the first four minutes of the second half, the Crusaders added four triples to lead by a 48-39 tally.
Minutes later, the Valpo lead reached ten points before UE started to feel it from outside. Williams and Labinowicz hit consecutive treys that quickly made it a 54-50 game with under 12 minutes on the clock. The run continued when a Cunliffe jumper made it a 56-55 Valpo lead with the clock approaching eight minutes.
K.J. Riley was able to put UE back in front with 6:43 remaining with a free throw and Williams added a three to put UE up by four. The lead reached was pushed out to 69-61 on another field goal by Williams, but the Crusaders had one final run set up in the final minutes. A triple from Eron Gordon with 1:34 remaining got them back within two at 70-68.
Freeman-Liberty capped off the run with a minute left, tying it at 70-70 on his 7th basket of the game. Following an Aces turnover, the Crusaders had a chance for the win, but a triple fell short and sent the game into overtime.
Valparaiso posted the first two buckets of the extra period and never gave up the lead, holding on for an 81-79 victory.
Evansville finished with a 38-32 rebounding advantage while outshooting Valpo, 47.3%-43.9%. The difference for Valpo came in its long range shooting as they went 12-of-26 from downtown.
UE is back at the Ford Center on Wednesday evening to take on Bradley at 6 p.m.
