DeAndre Williams Posts Second Double-Double

 DeAndre Williams set the game highs with a 20-point, 15-rebound effort to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team to a 70-64 come-from-behind win over IUPUI on Saturday night inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

Williams was 8-of-13 on the night and dished out five assists, another game-high.  Artur Labinowicz finished with nine points while Noah Frederking and K.J. Riley posted eight apiece.  Evansville trailed IUPUI by as many as 12 points in the second half before an 11-0 run in the final seven minutes changed the game.

“I thought we did a really good job with our pace.  It was a total team effort; our guys really gutted it out,” UE head coach Walter McCarty said after the win.  “We really played the right way in the second half.  We get behind with guys doing it their own way for whatever reason early in the games; we have to stop doing that and do our jobs for 40 minutes.  If we can do that, we are going to be a really good basketball team.”

Both teams struggled to find an offensive groove in the first half, with neither team able to eclipse 38% shooting.  Evansville began the night 1-of-9 from the field with a turnover.  DeAndre Williams, who led the Aces with 10 points in the half, ended the early stretch and connected on his first shot to cut the IUPUI lead to 7-6 just over six minutes in,

Evansville’s first advantage of the night came just seconds later when a short jumper by Shamar Givance made it an 8-7 game.  The lead for the Aces grew to four points at 13-9 when Marcus Henderson hit a three before Williams added another bucket with 12:25 remaining in the first half.

The Jaguars recorded the next four tallies to retake the lead and the teams would swap it two more times before Williams gave the Aces a 23-22 lead at the 4:45 mark.  Over the remainder of the period, the Jaguars outscored the Aces by a 15-4 margin to take a 37-27 halftime lead.  With the Jaguars up five, they were able to double their lead in the final two minutes in a stretch capped off by a Jaylen Minnett triple.

Sam Cunliffe opened the second half with a dunk on a nice feed from Williams.  UE would cut the gap to seven but a hot start to the half for the Jags saw them take their largest edge at 47-35 at the 17:29 mark.  A resilient Aces squad began to chip away at the lead and the work would pay off in the final minutes.

With 14:09 remaining, Evansville cut that 12-point deficit in half when a K.J. Riley jumper found the bottom of the net.  Two minutes later, Noah Frederking dialed it up from downtown and got his team back within a possession at 52-50.  With 10:38 remaining, it was John Hall connecting from downtown, putting the Aces back on top at 53-52.

IUPUI would go back in front by a 59-55 score inside of seven minutes remaining, but the Aces staged another rally.  Over the next five minutes, Evansville would take control with an 11-0 run.  Williams tied the score with a jumper and two free throws and Artur Labinowicz would put his team in front with two more free throws at the 4:27 mark.  Labinowicz also added the final touches on the rally with an and-one with 1:55 left.  The Jags got back within five points, but the Aces hung on to earn the big road win.

The big game by DeAndre Williams saw him set career highs with his 15 boards and five helpers.  He had a great mindset entering the night and it paid off on the floor.

“My mindset coming in was basically to make plays for my teammates and everything else would fall into place for me,” Williams explained.  “Me passing the ball really helped everyone else out and also my game.”

With the win, the Aces improve to 2-0 in road games this season, matching the road win mark from last season.  With a 4-game stretch away from the Ford Center, UE is set to return home for its next two games, beginning on Wednesday evening with a 6 p.m. contest against Western Illinois.