Aces face Crusaders on Monday at 6 p.m.

 The University of Evansville men’s basketball team scored the first seven points of the game and never trailed as the Purple Aces earned a 70-52 win over Valparaiso on Sunday afternoon inside the Ford Center.

Shamar Givance led a trio of double-digit UE (7-8, 5-4 MVC) scorers with 10 points.  He was 8-of-13 from the field and posted a game-high four assists.  Jawaun Newton and Samari Curtis posted 17 apiece.  Newton knocked down 7 of his 10 attempts and tied his career mark with eight rebounds.  Curtis was also 7-of-10 from the field.

“I thought we were focused and had a good mindset as far as playing with the type of purpose that we needed to,” UE head men’s basketball coach Todd Lickliter exclaimed following the win.  “Our guys really complemented each other and played to their strengths.  You look at Jax Levitch – he did not take a shot, but he had a really good game.  Shamar, Jawaun and Samari had open lanes because of the shooting ability that Jax and all of our guys have.”

A 3-for-3 start from the field extended to a 7-of-8 stretch that saw the Purple Aces hold an early 16-6 advantage.  Jawaun Newton hit two early shots as the Aces opened up a 7-0 lead. It was Shamar Givance capping off the early stretch with his first triple of the game to complete the 16-6 start.  Seven of the 16 points were scored by Newton.

Ben Krikke hit his first five attempts including two from outside to help the Crusaders (6-10, 3-4 MVC) get within four points at 27-23 at the 7:30 mark before Noah Frederking drained his first 3-point try on a feed from Jax Levitch to push the lead back to seven points.  Over the final moments of the half, Evan Kuhlman took over on the offensive end adding five points to send the Aces to the break with a 37-27 lead.  Kuhlman’s first triple came with an assist from Newton that cemented the double-digit halftime lead.  UE finished the half shooting 66.7% with 16 of its 24 attempts finding the bottom of the net.  Valpo finished the period at 47.8%.

Evansville’s hot shooting continued in the second half, converting four of its first six attempts on the way to a game-high 48-31 lead at the 16-minute mark.  Samari Curtis scored five in a row and added another field goal with 13 minutes remaining to push the advantage to 58-37.  Valpo kept the Aces off the scoreboard for a 5-minute span while cutting nine points off of the UE advantage.  A triple by Eron Gordon started a 9-0 stretch that made it a 58-46 game with eight minutes remaining.

Newton ended the scoreless drought when he converted an in-bound pass from Levitch.  It was the first field goal in a 6-0 run that saw the Aces regain control.  Over the remainder of the game, the lead would reach as many as 23 points (70-44) and would not go under 17 with Evansville ending a 3-game skid with a 70-52 win.

Krikke led Valpo with 18 points.  He knocked down 7 out of 9 field goal tries and was 2-for-2 from outside.  Gordon tallied 13.

Evansville hit a season-high 29 field goals in the win with 23 being inside the arc.  For the game, UE shot 60.4% while hitting 23 out of 30 inside attempts.  Valparaiso shot 47.5%.  The rebounding edge also favored the Aces to the tun of a 27-19 final.

On Monday, the teams will square off in a 6 p.m. game at the Ford Center.

Despite getting career-high scoring efforts from sophomore forward Hannah Haithcock (Washington Courthouse, Ohio) and senior center Audrey Turner (Fishers, Indiana), University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball could not hang onto a seven-point third-quarter lead as visiting Truman State University handed the No. 11 Screaming Eagles a 73-67 Great Lakes Valley Conference setback Saturday afternoon at Screaming Eagles Arena.

Haithcock had a career-high 22 points and team-high eight rebounds, while Turner finished with a career-high 15 points. However, a season-high 27 fouls proved to be too much for the Eagles to overcome as Haithcock was among three starters to foul out in the fourth quarter.

Truman State (11-2, 11-2 GLVC), which overcame a seven-point third-quarter deficit to earn the win, went 21-of-37 from the free throw line, including 14-of-18 in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs used runs of 11-3 and 5-0 in the final period to take a 67-60 lead with a minute to play in the contest.

Turner, however, hit a pair of free throws and a layup in the lane to get USI to within three points with 37 seconds to play.

After a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Hannah Belanger put the Bulldogs back up by five, senior guard Emma DeHart (Indianapolis, Indiana), who finished with 15 points and a career-high six assists, converted the old-fashioned three-point play to get the Eagles to within two points (69-67) with 32 seconds left on the clock.

The Bulldogs converted one-of-two free throws on the other end and USI had the ball with a chance to tie the contest with a three-pointer in the final 20 seconds. Junior guard Katie Klucking, however, intercepted a pass from sophomore guard Soffia Rieckers (Evansville, Indiana) and was fouled by DeHart, who picked up her fifth personal in the process.

Klucking, who had 20 points, hit 1-of-2 free throws to raise Truman’s lead to 71-67 with 18 seconds left. After the Eagles failed to score on their next possession, Belanger, who had a game-high 26 points, put the game on ice with a pair of free throws.

USI, which had four fouls in the first 75 seconds of the contest, overcame early foul trouble to take a 36-33 lead at the break. Haithcock had a pair of three-pointers and 13 first-half points to pace USI in the opening 20 minutes.

The Eagles extended their advantage to 49-42 six minutes into the third period before the Bulldogs closed the frame on an 8-2 run. USI led 53-50 early in the fourth and had a 56-54 lead before Truman State scored seven straight points to build a five-point edge.

USI returns to action Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. when it visits Quincy University. The Hawks (1-12, 1-12 GLVC) suffered an 87-52 setback to the University of Indianapolis Saturday in Indianapolis.