Aces pick up first road win of the season
As has been the case for most of the season, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team took its opponent down to the wire. Tonight, the hard work paid off as the Purple Aces earned their first road win of the season, defeating Missouri State by a 70-64 final on Wednesday evening inside JQH Arena
Leading the way for Evansville (9-9, 3-2 MVC) was K.J. Riley, who scored 16 points and hauled in a team-high eight rebounds. John Hall scored 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 night that saw him connect on all three from outside. Shea Feehan scored 10 points while Marty Hill finished the evening with nine.
“It feels great. We turned the ball over a lot in the first half and we did not want to do that,†UE head coach Walter McCarty said. “We did much better in the second half and were able to pull off the win. I am so happy for our guys, they worked really hard in practice and deserve this.â€
Missouri State (8-10, 2-3 MVC) was led by Tulio Da Silva and Keandre Cook, who scored 14 points apiece.
UE scooted out to a 5-0 lead to begin the game while holding the Bears to an 0-for-4 start from the field. Shea Feehan got the Aces on the board before Noah Frederking drained a triple. After Missouri State posted a pair of buckets, John Hall nailed a three to push the advantage to 8-4 just over three minutes into the game.
Missouri State fought back as three ties led to a 13-13 score eight minutes into the contest. That is when K.J. Riley hit his first 3-pointer since the Murray State game on December 18. Riley missed 10 triples since that contest. The Bears continued to battle back and took their first lead at 17-16 before pushing the advantage to 27-18 with 6:47 remaining in the half. Evansville went 1-for-7 with four turnovers as the Bears took the lead.
Despite the adversity, the Aces never gave up and turned the tables over the final moment of the period. UE completed the half on a 12-2 run to retake a 30-29 lead going into the break. Two key moments bookended the stretch. MSU was called for a flagrant foul after pulling out to the 8-point lead and Dainius Chatkevicius connected on both free throws. Following a missed MSU shot, K.J. Riley knocked down a bucket, which cut the deficit to 27-22.
With two minutes remaining in the stanza, the Aces trailed by seven points before Marty Hill got on the board. His first triple of the night got UE within four. Riley followed with his fourth make of the night and after another Bears miss, Hill was true from outside at the buzzer to give Evansville the lead heading into the locker room. MSU was 1-for-7 with three turnovers over the final six minutes of the half.
Out of the break, the Aces continued the run, posting the first five points to take their largest lead of the game at 35-29. All five points were free throws by Riley and Hill on separate possessions. Once again, the Bears rallied, retaking the lead at 39-38 with 14:14 left in the game. With 9:18 remaining, Jared Ridder connected on a three that saw the Bears extend their lead to six points at 46-40.
Evansville made its way back once again with Shea Feehan having the hot hand. A triple got UE within one before two free throws with just over six minutes remaining tied the game at 49-49. Missouri State would score the next five points before the second triple from Hall got UE back within a pair. After another MSU basket, Hall drained his third trey of the night to make it a 1-point game. Chatkevicius was fouled on the play, which saw Hall’s triple count, and made both free throws to put UE in front, 57-56, with four minutes on the clock.
On the next trip down the floor, redshirt sophomore Devan Straub made his first bucket as a Purple Aces a huge one – drilling a triple to give UE a 60-56 lead. MSU cut the lead to a pair, but with exactly one minute left, Evan Kuhlman hit one of the biggest shots of his career, a triple with the shot clock expiring, to give UE a 63-58 advantage. Missouri State did not give up as a pair of free throws cut the Aces lead to three with 30 ticks left. Riley knocked down both free throws to push the lead back to five and the defense forced another miss with Riley hitting another from the line to make it a 66-60 game.
From there, Evansville was able to hold on for the 70-64 triumph. The Aces shot 44.4% for the night while holding MSU to 39.7%.
On Saturday, the Aces are back home to face Illinois State in a 1 p.m. contest inside the Ford Center.
