Taylor Notches 30 Points In The Loss

 TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – A defensive battle took place in Terre Haute as Indiana State was able to hang on for a 58-53 win over the University of Evansville men’s basketball team on Wednesday evening at the Hulman Center.

“I am really proud of our guys for the effort that they gave, especially on the defensive end,” UE head coach Marty Simmons.  “They really tried to help each other out.  We are just having trouble scoring the basketball, I know our heart is in the right place, but we did not execute enough down the stretch.”

Taylor notched his 30 points while going 11-of-30 from the floor for UE (16-14, 6-11 MVC).  His 30 attempts were a career-high.  He also matched his top effort with eight rebounds.  K.J. Riley was next with eight points while Dainius Chatkevicius led everyone with 10 boards.

Leading the Sycamores (12-17, 7-10 MVC) was Jordan Barnes with 19 points and nine rebounds.  Qiydar Davis finished with 12.

After Indiana State scored the first bucket of the game, Evansville posted seven in a row.  Ryan Taylor notched five, including an and-one to get the Aces on the board.  Indiana State went 1-4 with three turnovers to begin the game.

Indiana State retook the lead at 8-7 on a free throw by Emondre Rickman before a 7-0 Evansville run gave them a 14-7 advantage.  An Evan Kuhlman triple spearheaded the run.  Kuhlman entered the game hitting five of his last seven long-range tries.  The long ball is exactly what ISU used to get back in the game as Tyreke Key and Jordan Barnes hit treys to knot it up at 14-14.

With under five minutes left, Barnes connected on another 3-pointer to give the Sycamores a 21-18 advantage.  Duane Gibson got on the board with a layup before Dalen Traore tied it up with a free throw to send the game to the break tied up at 21-21.  The defense was the name of the game in the first half as UE shot 26.7% with Indiana State finishing the half at 25.0%.

Taylor, who led everyone with 11 points in the first half, hit an and-one on the first UE possession to give the lead back to the Aces at 24-21.  Barnes made sure the Sycamores stayed close as back-to-back treys put ISU back up 27-24 before a pair of free throws extended that to 29-24.

Blake Simmons knocked down his first long ball to end the run as UE grabbed a 32-31 edge at the 15- minute mark thanks to another Taylor triple.  Neither team could muster up a lead over more than a possession, but that changed when Demonte Ojinnaka hit a triple to help ISU score on three consecutive possessions to go up 44-41.  The lead grew to five at 46-41 on a pair of Barnes free throws.

K.J. Riley ended the stretch with his second basket of the game, but Ojinnaka struck again with another triple to push the lead to 49-43.  With just under five minutes on the clock, the biggest shot of the game came off the hands of Ryan Taylor, who drained his second trey to get the Aces back within three.

ISU was able to hold off the UE rally as the lead was pushed back to five on a Qiydar Davis bucket.  Taylor made sure the Sycamores did not get too far ahead as a pair of free throws with two minutes left cut the deficit back to three.  Free throws were the difference down the stretch as Davis and Tyreke Key hit four in a row to push the lead to seven (55-48) – the largest edge of the day.

With ISU up six, Taylor hit a trey to cut the lead to three, but the Sycamores hung on for the win as two more free throws found the bottom of the net.

ISU finished the night shooting 28.8% while the Aces shot 28.6%.  Rebounding also went the way of the Sycamores, 47-46.

Saturday will mark the final home game of the season for the Aces as they welcome Southern Illinois to the Ford Center for a 1 p.m. game.  It will also mark Senior Day with Dalen Traore, Duane Gibson and Blake Simmons being honored at the game.