Aces and Panthers meet up inside the Ford CenterAces and Panthers meet up inside the Ford Center

Looking for its 10th home win of the season and 100th victory at the Ford Center, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team takes on UNI in a 3 p.m. game on Sunday.  ESPN3 and the Purple Aces Radio Network presented by Learfield will have live coverage.

Setting the Scene

– UE holds a 19-7 record in home games against UNI and has seven of the last nine contests played in Evansville

– The Panthers took the first meeting by an 81-74 final in Cedar Falls; John Hall scored 21 points and had his fifth double-double of the season while K.J. Riley tallied 19 points in the McLeod Center

– Evansville has dropped six of its last seven games including a 68-56 loss to Missouri State on Wednesday

Last Time Out

– Missouri State led by 18 points at halftime and finished with a 68-56 victory on Wednesday at the Ford Center

– MSU was 17-of-23 (73.9%) in the first half, but the Aces held them to 0-for-10 to start the second half

– UE got within eight points in the final 20 minutes, but could not get any closer

– Marty Hill paced the team with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting while K.J. Riley scored 10

Takeaways from Missouri State

– Evansville trailed MSU by 18 points at the half; over the last four games, the Aces have averaged a 12-point deficit at the end of the first half

– Opponents are shooting 54.5% from long range in the first half of the last four games

– Freshmen Shamar Givance and Jawaun Newton each set career highs in minutes played against the Bears; Givance finished with 29 minutes in his third start of the season while Newton played 22 minutes

Putting it Together

– Marty Hill has recorded at least nine points in 13 consecutive games including a 20-point outing at Southern Illinois and 15 in the home game against the Bears

– It marked his second 20-point game of the year; he was 4-for-5 from outside

– He has connected on at least one 3-pointer in 15 of the last 16 contests

– Hill has been on fire from outside, hitting 31 of his last 74 attempts from long range in the last 15 games

– In the home win over Drake, Hill scored 24 points while hitting five out of seven 3-pointers in 39 minutes; it was his top effort at UE, surpassing his 16-point outing at Arkansas State

– He has scored 8 or more points in 23 of the 26 contests

Finishing on a High Note

– Dainius Chatkevicius had the best week of his Evansville career, averaging 12.5 points per game including a career-high of 13 points at Southern Illinois

– Chatkevicius hit 10 out of 16 field goal tries and chipped in 8.0 rebounds per contest; he began the week by tying his career mark of 12 points in the game at Indiana State

– Chatkevicius recorded 10 rebounds at SIU on the way to his second career double-double

– Over his last three games, Chatkevicius has chipped in 11.3 points

Scouting the Opponent

– UNI picked up a 77-64 win over Illinois State on Wednesday to improve to 11-15 overall and 6-7 in league action

– The Panthers defeated the Aces by an 81-74 final in January in Cedar Falls with Spencer Haldeman recording 24 points

– A.J. Green is the top scorer for the Panthers, averaging 15.0 points per game; he is also an 85.5% shooter from the line

– Wyatt Lohaus is next with 9.4 PPG while Trae Berhow is their top rebounder with 6.0 per contest

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University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball held off McKendree University, 100-65, Thursday evening at the Physical Activities Center. The Screaming Eagles rise to 17-6 overall and 9-4 in the GLVC, while the Bearcats go to 9-14, 5-9 GLVC.

The Eagles hit for the first five points of the game and battled to a 42-34 halftime advantage. USI extended its advantage to a first-half best 12 points, 36-24, with 4:26 left in the opening half after senior guard/forward Nate Hansen(Evansville, Indiana) capped off a 16-6 run with a lay-up.

USI was a blistering six-of-eight during the run that had Hansen (5) and senior guard Alex Stein(Evansville, Indiana) (7) combined for 12 of the 16 points.

At the intermission, Stein and sophomore forward Emmanuel Little (Indianapolis, Indiana) had 10 points each to led the way. Little was five-of-eight form the field, while Stein was four-of-seven with a pair of free throws during the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, USI continued to add to its halftime margin by outscoring McKendree, 38-29, in building its largest lead of the game, 80-63, with 6:04 left. The Eagles were blistering from the field while building the 17-point lead, hitting 15-of-23 shot overall and four-of-seven from long range.

The Bearcats, however, were not done and made a run at the Eagles in the final minutes. McKendree used a 28-14 surge to get back to within three points, 94-91 with 56 second remaining on the clock. The Eagles responded with junior guard/forward Kobe Caldwell (Bowling Green, Kentucky), Stein, and Little combining for six-straight free throws in the final seconds to close out the 100-95 victory.

The 100-point game was the second of the year for the Eagles (USI scored 110 points versus Lake Superior State University in November). USI also shot 57.4 percent for the game (35-61) and won the battle on the boards, 35-28.

Individually, Stein led five Eagles in double-digits with 26 points. The 26 points pulls the senior guard to within 41 points of becoming the third USI player to reach 2,000 in his career.

Caldwell followed in the scoring column with 21 points, marking his fifth game over 20 points this season. Sophomore guard Mateo Rivera (Indianapolis, Indiana) was third on the team tonight with a season-high 15 points, while Little dropped in 14 points. Hansen rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points in the victory.

USI reaches the halfway point of the four-game homestand Saturday at 3:15 p.m. when it hosts the University of Illinois Springfield for Homecoming. Illinois Springfield is 13-11 overall and 6-8 in the GLVC after falling 73-65 at Bellarmine University tonight in Louisville, Kentucky.

USI has the series advantage versus Illinois Springfield, 10-4 overall and 7-3 in the GLVC, since the beginning of the match-ups in 2002-03 and the Prairie Stars entrance into the GLVC in 2009-10. The Eagles, who hold a 7-1 advantage in the series at the PAC, lost to the Stars last year in Springfield, Illinois, 79-70, despite the double-double, 23 points and 10 rebounds, by Little.

University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball survived a barrage of second-half fouls and a furious comeback bid to defeat visiting McKendree University, 66-62, in Great Lakes Valley Conference action Thursday evening at the Physical Activities Center.

The Screaming Eagles (16-7, 9-4 GLVC), who led 40-19 late in the second quarter, were whistled for nine fouls in the first seven-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter and 14 for the second half as the Bearcats slowly chipped away at USI’s lead.

McKendree (12-11, 6-8 GLVC) scored the final seven points of the second quarter to trim USI’s 21-point advantage to 40-26 at the intermission. The Bearcats shot 53.8 percent from the field in the third quarter as they cut the Eagles’ advantage to 56-47 heading into the fourth quarter.

USI’s lead continued to dwindle as foul trouble sent key players to the bench during the fourth quarter. McKendree held the Eagles to just two points throughout the first eight minutes of the period as it pulled to within one point at 58-57 with less than two minutes to play.

Freshman forward Ashlynn Brown (Perrysburg, Ohio) hit a crucial basket with 1:43 to play in the game, putting the Eagles up 60-57. Senior guard Alex Davidson (Salem, Indiana) and senior center Kacy Eschweiler (St. Charles, Missouri) combined to go 6-of-6 at the free throw line in the final 30 seconds as the Eagles held on for the four-point victory.

First half run
USI used a 32-13 run that took up nearly 15 minutes of the first half to build its 21-point advantage. The Eagles were 12-of-20 (.600) from the field and 4-of-11 (.364) from three-point range during the run. Additionally, the Eagles racked up seven assists and seven steals as McKendree had 16 of its 25 turnovers during the stretch.

Foul trouble
Foul trouble plagued the Eagles late in the game as sophomore forward Imani Guy (Columbus, Indiana) and senior forward/center Mikayla Rowan (Brazil, Indiana) each fouled out of the contest. USI committed nine fouls in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter, while McKendree was not whistled for an infraction in the fourth period until the 2:24 mark.

Statistical leaders
Junior guard Ashley Johnson (Louisville, Kentucky) led USI with 16 points, six assists and four steals, while Eschweiler chipped in 14 points and 11 rebounds. Guy added 12 points and nine rebounds.

McKendree was aided by the effort of junior guard Jordan Heberg, who finished with a game-high 27 points.