Evansville improves to 5-0 at the Ford Center
Just five days after setting his University of Evansville scoring mark with 21 points, graduate transfer Shea Feehan erupted for 29 points as the Purple Aces erased a 17-point deficit in the first half to defeat Ball State by a final of 89-77 on Sunday afternoon in the Ford Center.
“I hit a few shots in the first half and tried to stay aggressive and keep it going in the second half,†Feehan said.
Feehan went 13-of-14 from the free throw line while adding four 3-pointers in the UE (5-4) win. He was one of five double figure scorers for UE. K.J. Riley finished with 14 while Marty Hill scored 12, Evan Kuhlman posted 11 and John Hall recorded 10. Hall also led all players with 10 rebounds as he had his second double-double of the season.
“We showed some fight today and that made me feel good. The crowd was awesome. I noticed that from the beginning of the game, we are grateful to them; it helps our energy and really helps our players. These guys are playing hard and the way we are playing is fun to watch. We’re building something really special,†Aces head coach Walter McCarty said. “It feels good. I tell the guys we are good enough. We have enough to be successful. If we play our style, feel connected and play the way we are capable of, we can beat anybody. This win definitely helps our confidence.â€
Four Ball State (6-4) players recorded double figures, led by Tahjai Teague, who had 17. Tayler Persons, Trey Moses and K.J. Walton finished with 16, 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Evansville notched the opening basket of the game before Ball State scored nine straight to open up a 9-2 lead. Shea Feehan, who had 16 points in the opening 20 minutes, hit four in a row for the Aces to get within a possession. With the Cardinals up 13-8, the Aces posted five in a row including a trey from John Hall.
Ball State went on another big run, reeling off nine in a row in a run that began with a Kyle Mallers three. They shot 58.6% in the opening period and led by as many as 17 at 43-26 with 2:46 remaining. At that point, UE changed course. Over the final moments of the half, the Aces went on an 11-2 run to cut the BSU lead to eight (45-37) at the break. Feehan drilled a three with a minute left and was able to draw a foul on another long range attempt with one second remaining. He hit all three tries to make it a manageable 8-point game at the break.
Feehan explained how the coaching staff helped their mindset to make that run.
“We came together, got a stop and played better as a team,†he explained. “In the under 4 timeout of the first half, we were down 14-15 points and Coach McCarty said let’s get it down to 7 or 8 at the half and we were able to do that.â€
John Hall said that his team took the first meeting this season along with the opening moments of today’s game to heart and used that to their advantage.
“They punched us in the face at their place two weeks ago and we lost,†Hall stated. “This week – they punched us in the face and we punched back even harder.â€
Out of the half, Evansville kept the pressure on. Feehan hit three more from the line as the Aces scored the first six of the period to cut their gap to just two at 45-43. Following a Cardinal bucket, the Aces scored four more to tie it up at 47-47. Four minutes in, Evan Kuhlman connected on a field goal to give the Aces a 49-47 lead, their first lead since 2-0.
The run continued. Feehan’s big day continued when another trey capped off an 11-0 run that gave the Aces a 54-47 lead. John Hall got in on the outside shooting when hit triple pushed the Evansville lead to double figures at 60-49. Shamar Givance helped it balloon to 16 points when his back-to-back field goals made it a 70-54 contest with 8:42 left in the game. In total, the Evansville run was a 44-11 stretch, going back to the first half.
“We went on a really good run as a team,†Feehan commented after the game. “I don’t know if I have ever been on a team that made a run like that. We battled back.â€
UE’s lead reached as many as 17 at 73-56, but more importantly – it never got below 11 – over the final portion of the game. The Aces stood tall and finished with the 89-77 victory.
One stat that jumps out is the rebounding – which went in UE’s favor by a 42-34 final. In the earlier meeting in Muncie, it went Ball State’s way by a 42-30 tally.
“I told our guys that we are tougher than what we have shown. We do a lot of tough things in practice, but have not shown that in the games,†Coach McCarty said. “We need our team to be all in on the defensive end. Our guys were really connected defensively today. We made it tough on Ball State.â€
After shooting 26.5% in the first half, the Aces scorched the nets in the final 20 minutes, hitting 18 out of 31 shots (58.1%). For the game, UE shot 41.5% while Ball State finished out at 47.5%. Free throw shooting by Evansville was tremendous as the squad finished at 90% – 27 out of 30.
Evansville is now 5-0 at home and has another big contest at the Ford Center next weekend with Jacksonville State coming to town on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match-up.
“I have been telling the coaching staff that we have not seen what we can do yet. We are going to have a night where we really make all of our shots,†McCarty added.
