UE back in action Saturday against Robert Morris

 SAVANNAH, Ga. – Blaise Beauchamp reset his season scoring mark with 18 points in Friday’s opening game of the Hostilo Hoops Community Classic against South Alabama inside Enmarket Arena.  The Purple Aces fell to the Jaguars by a final of 78-67.

“This was another great team that we faced tonight.  We had some good stretches in the first half, but South Alabama just did not miss during that stretch in the second half,” UE head coach David Ragland exclaimed.  “There are several positives to take away from tonight and we will be ready for Robert Morris tomorrow.”

Beauchamp was 6-of-15 from the field in the contest and was one of four double figure scorers for UE.  Kenny Strawbridge Jr. tallied 14 while Antoine Smith Jr. and Yacine Toumi recorded 11 and 10, respectively.  Marvin Coleman II led the Aces with seven rebounds as each team had 33.  Isaiah Moore led the Jaguars with 21 points.

Yacine Toumi got the Aces on the board in the opening possession before South Alabama scored the next seven points.  Evansville countered with a 7-0 run of its own to go up 9-2.  Preston Phillips got it started with a triple and would add a second field goal during the stretch.

With the score tied at 9-9, Antoine Smith Jr. began what would finish as an 11-point half by hitting his first of four shots to begin a 7-0 run.  Blaise Beauchamp hit his second field goal of the game before finding Smith for a 3-pointer to make it a 16-9 game at the 12:15 mark.  Over the next six minutes, the Jaguars worked their way back into the contest and used a pair of free throws to get within one at 24-23.

Smith took matters into his own hands, knocking down two more 3-pointers to put the Aces back in front – 32-27 – with four minutes left in the half.  Beauchamp drained his first outside shot less than a minute later to push the advantage to 35-29.  Over the final moments of the half, USA made another run and hit a shot in the final seconds to make it a 37-37 contest at the half.

Kenny Strawbridge Jr. gave UE the lead to open the second half and would be credited with the assist on a Phillips dunk that gave Evansville a 44-43 edge at the 15:44 mark.  Over the next four minutes, South Alabama outscored the Aces by a 12-1 margin to take their largest lead of the night at 55-45.  Four in a row by Beauchamp got UE back into the fray but the Jaguars would push their lead to 67-52 with 9:24 on the clock.

Evansville never gave up and used an 8-2 stretch to get within nine entering the last seven minutes.  UE continued to keep things within reach as Beauchamp added his sixth made field goal of the game to make it a 72-63 game at the 2:44 mark, but South Alabama had the answer each time and would take the win by a 78-67 final.

Game two of the weekend will see the Aces face Robert Morris on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 8-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers shook off the post-Thanksgiving food coma Saturday night by picking up a big 97-61 win over Volunteer State Community College.

The Trailblazers jumped out to a quick advantage, scoring the first seven points of the game.

Vincennes would later use a 14-2 scoring run to build a 37-22 lead before closing out the opening half of play heading into the locker room leading 47-31.

Vincennes looked to again grab control of the momentum out of the locker room, outscoring the Pioneers 22-8 to open the final 20 minutes of play to grow their lead to 30 points.

VU would trade baskets later in the half but were still able to add on to their lead as the Trailblazers closed out their 10th win of the season and 10th win in a row 97-61 over Volunteer State.

“Honestly this is probably the most disappointed I’ve been after one of our 10 games this year,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I was just not pleased with the attention to detail, the intensity and the energy. I’ve been around this a long time and I told the team after the game, you need to watch the film, you better come in here Monday humble and ready to work. But usually when guys get into that mode they usually don’t until they take a bad loss and I can see a bad loss coming for us very soon if there is not a great altering of the mindset of what I witnessed tonight.”

“I’ve done this a long time and I’m not trying to be negative, that’s just what I saw,” Franklin added. “We are going to be off tomorrow, because I really don’t want to see them tomorrow. Sunday is a day that we can have off and they are not hearing me as clearly as they need to. So, I told them to go home, watch the film and we’ll come back on Monday and we better have two of the greatest practices of all time to get ourselves back to where we need to be. That’s what I believe. That will be the message and what I will try to do. But I was disappointed. I just didn’t think tonight was very good.”