UE comes within minutes of conference win

Trailing by 14 points in the second half, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team went on a 16-2 run to tie it up before a late Bradley run lifted them to a 69-58 win on Sunday afternoon inside Carver Arena.

Four UE (9-16, 0-12 MVC) players reached double figures, led by Evan Kuhlman’s 13 points.  He added a career-high of nine rebounds and has recorded at least four caroms in each of the last six games.  John Hall scored 12 points while hitting a pair of 3-pointers.  Jawaun Newton added 11 tallies while K.J. Riley scored 10.  For Newton – it was his third double figure scoring game in the last five outings.

“I thought we kept playing throughout the entire possession.  There were a few times that they got pretty good looks, but we stayed in position and grabbed the rebound on their misses,” Aces head coach Todd Lickliter said after the game.  “Bradley has some really good weapons and are a nice team.  There are a lot of things you have to cover with them.  Our guys were doing enough to hang in there.”

“I continue to be very proud of our guys, they are doing everything that we ask of them.  We are getting very close and I know our hard work will pay off.”

An and-one by K.J. Riley and a 3-pointer from John Hall got the Aces started with a 6-2 lead.  At the 4-minute mark, Bradley (16-9, 7-5 MVC) tied it up at 8-8 for the first time before taking their first lead of 10-8 a minute later.  Riley added a triple of his own to give his team a 13-12 lead seven minutes into the game.

Bradley clamped down at that point, keeping the Aces scoreless for a span of five minutes, limiting UE to 0-for-3 shooting and three turnovers.  The Braves scored eight in a row to open up a 20-13 advantage.

The run for the Braves continued as they added eight more points, outscoring Evansville by a total mark of 16-2 over nine minutes of action to take their largest lead of the half at 28-15 with 4:37 left in the half.  The Aces quickly clawed back with Noah Frederking nailing his first triple to make it a 10-point game.

Evan Kuhlman added a pair of free throws before Frederking was true from outside again, getting his team within five – 28-23 – inside of two minutes remaining.  A Ja’Shon Henry dunk ended the stretch, but Jawaun Newton connected on another Aces triple to make it a 4-point game with 1:26 on the clock.  Bradley scored the final four points of the period to hold a 34-26 halftime lead.

With 16:18 remaining in the contest, Darrell Brown hit a jumper that pushed the lead to a game-high 14 points (44-30).  Once again, Evansville did not relent with Kuhlman accounting for seven points in an 11-2 rally that got UE within five at the 13-minute mark, forcing a Bradley time out.  Despite the stoppage, the Aces continued their rally with John Hall hitting another shot from downtown before Newton posted a layup to tie the game at 46-46 with 11 minutes on the clock.

A 16-run game-tying run by UE was countered by a 5-0 stretch from the Braves.  Sam Cunliffe got on the board with consecutive scores for UE.  His second one was a slam dunk on a nice feed from Shamar Givance.  Riley would tie it up at 52-52 with under seven minutes left.  The defense for Evansville kept Bradley scoreless for a stretch of nearly four minutes before a free throw put the Braves on top as the four-minute mark approached.

Newton put the Aces on top with his 11^th point of the day, finding a spot in the middle of a zone defense that gave UE a 54-53 edge, its first lead since 13-12.  It did not last long with the Braves converting a 3-point play on the ensuing trip down the floor.  It was the start of a 12-0 stretch that gave them a 65-54 lead with under two minutes remaining.  They finished the day with the 69-58 win.

Darrell Brown was the leading scorer for the Braves, finishing with 22 while Elijah Childs added 19 points and 11 boards.  The Braves shot 49% from the field in the game with the Aces hitting 39.7% of their tries.

Loyola is up next for UE with the teams set to square off on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Ford Center.

Aces grab third win of the weekend on Sunday morning

 

The bats came alive for the University of Evansville softball team on Sunday with the Purple Aces scoring 10 runs to defeat Green Bay by a final of 10-4 in the finale of the Total Control Sports Invitational at The Dome.

“It was great to be back playing softball.  I am really proud of how we played this weekend,” Evansville head softball coach Mat Mundell said.  “We have a lot to be positive about and to build off of.  I love the way the ladies have responded to adversity.”

Jessica Fehr had another great game for UE, drawing four walks and turning those into three runs scored.  Alyssa Barela went 2-4 with a home run and two RBI while Eryn Gould added a home run of her own.  Haley Woolf was 1-4 and scored twice.

Green Bay had the early momentum, scoring three times in the first and once in the second to chase UE starter Emily Lockhart after 1 2/3 innings.  The Phoenix notched five hits off of the Aces starter.

Lockhart’s teammates picked her right up with a pair of runs in the second.  Mackenzie McFeron crossed the plate for the first Evansville run of the day.  McFeron pinch ran for Barela before adding some excellent baserunning.  The sophomore stole second before advancing to third on a wild pitch.  Hannah Hood reached on a Green Bay error, which scored McFeron.  Mea Adams added an RBI knock, plating Fehr, who walked earlier in the frame.

Two more runs came home in the third with Hannah Hood singling with two outs to score Fehr and Woolf.  An Eryn Gould home run led off the fourth and gave UE the lead for good.  With one out, Woolf reached on a walk before Alyssa Barela homered for the second time of the weekend to push the lead to 7-4.  Hood would later reach on an error that scored Jessica Fehr.  The scoring was capped off by Kat Mueller’s bases loaded walk and a Gould HBP that plated Hood.

That would be the final scoring of the game with the Aces cruising to a 10-4 win.  Izzy Vetter tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief before Erin Kleffman threw a scoreless seventh.

Next weekend, the Aces are back in action in Mobile, Ala. at the Jaguar Challenge.  UE will face Louisiana Tech, Austin Peay and South Alabama from the 14^th through the 16^th.