UE defeats Green Bay, 80-75

A career game by K.J. Riley saw him score 24 points to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team to an 80-75 victory over Green Bay on Saturday evening at the Ford Center.

Riley was 6-of-14 from the floor and knocked down 12 of his 14 free throws.  His 24 points was a career-high. Riley added 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Always the team player, Riley was not concerned with his career-high, he was just happy for the win against a team that will give UE (6-6) valuable experience heading into the Missouri Valley Conference portion of the schedule.

“They get up and down, it was a game like that will really get us ready for conference play.  It was a really good test for us,” Riley said. “We never get down as a team, we always pick each other up. We are a close knit group and play through adversity.”

Marty Hill, who scored 12 points, is excited about how this win will help their confidence heading into Christmas break and the MVC.

“This game will do a lot for our confidence.  It was another close one. We really stuck together and talked to each other and really came together today,” he said.  “I think we are in a good spot right now, we know how to play when we are down and facing adversity and know how to play when we are up.”

Green Bay (6-7) entered the game as one of the top ten squads in the nation when it came to pace of play.  McCarty and his squad always look to do the same thing in their offensive possessions and did a nice job of being prepared for what the Phoenix were going to do.

“It was a fast-paced game.  They put immense pressure on you.  I thought our guys were able to handle it well,” McCarty explained after the game.  “They get up there on defense and try to get you to turn it over. In the first half, they got most of their points off turnovers, we were able to get that corrected in the second half and were able to pull out to the lead.”

The Phoenix were led by Kameron Hankerson, who posted 18 points.  Sandy Cohen III scored 16.

Ten lead changes took place in a competitive first half with the Phoenix going to the break up 37-35.  After Green Bay hit a three to open the scoring, Marty Hill scored the next five to give UE its first lead of the day at 5-3.  The Phoenix went back up by a 10-9 score before a Dainius Chatkevicius free throw and a Noah Frederking three put Evansville back on top at 13-10.

Seconds after Frederking’s shot, Green Bay tied it back up with a triple. With the score tied at 22 with 6:21 remaining in the half, UE took its largest lead of four point thanks to buckets by Frederking and Hill.  The Phoenix would turn the tables, opening up a 4-point lead of their own, taking a 37-33 advantage with 40 seconds left. Evan Kuhlman connected on his first shot of the day to wrap up the first-half scoring and get UE within two at the break.  Hill led the Aces with 7 opening-half tallies.

Evan Kuhlman helped the Aces start the second half on an 8-0 stretch.  He hit back-to-back triples to help UE take a 43-37 lead. Riley added a layup in the run.  After Green Bay cut the deficit to a pair, UE made another rally. Up 45-43, Evansville went on an 11-2 run to take its largest advantage of the game – 56-45.  Four UE players scored in the run that was capped off by a Chatkevicius dunk inside of the 12-minute mark.

Green Bay slowly made its way back.  Trailing 65-57 with 7:38 on the clock, the Phoenix got within four at 69-65 less than two minutes later.  Three free throws by Sandy Cohen III saw Green Bay cut their deficit to three – 74-71 – with just over three minutes before a JayQuan McCloud triple made their comeback complete as he tied the game at 74-74.

Just as he did all day – K.J. Riley put the team on his back.  Following a timeout, he gave Evansville the lead for good with two more free throws.  A free throw by Cohen cut UE’s lead to one before Riley hit a layup with 21 seconds remaining to put Evansville up 78-75.  A Phoenix miss gave UE the ball with 11 seconds remaining as Noah Frederking put the icing on the cake with two more from the charity stripe that gave Evansville the 80-75 triumph.

Protecting the lead is something that proved to be crucial as the clock ran out.  Coach McCarty emphasized that with his squad.

“We took more time off the clock tonight, I tried to explain to the guys that we are trying to protect the lead, we need to make the other team work more,” he said.  “I think our guys are doing a great job. Our defense is also coming along. Those guys are really locking down and helping each other out. We still have so much more room for improvement, which makes things even more exciting.”

That defense for Evansville held Green Bay to 40.3% shooting on the night.  UE also held them to just 2-for-10 to open up the second half.

UE finished with a 40-38 rebounding edge with John Hall tallying nine caroms.  Riley added seven. Riley and Hill were the double-digit scorers. Behind them, Frederking and Chatkevicius posted nine.

The Aces have off for the Christmas holiday before returning to action on Sunday, December 30 with a noon CT game at Miami Ohio.