UE looks to right the ship on Wednesday at Valparaiso

University of Evansville senior Blake Simmons became the 49^th player in program history to reach the 1000-point mark as the Purple Aces were defeated by Bradley, 66-53, on Saturday evening inside Carver Arena.

Simmons led UE (12-9, 2-6 MVC) with 12 points, all from long range.  Ryan Taylor, who was held scoreless in the first half, finished with 10 in the second frame.  Dru Smith scored nine.

“We did not get off to the start that we wanted, but our guys fought back and I give them credit,” Aces head coach Marty Simmons said.  “We cut it close near the end of the first half, but Bradley had a good run to finish the half and also got off to a good start in the second half.  Our guys fought back, but I do not think our decision-making was good down the stretch.  It was tough, hard-fought game on both sides.”

Four Braves (14-7, 4-4 MVC) scored double figures, led by a 17-point game from Darrell Brown.  Donte Thomas notched 13 points and 12 boards.

Bradley got the early jump on the Aces, scoring the first five points of the game.  K.J. Riley got UE on the board with a pair of free throws before the Braves punched right back.  An and-one by Elijah Childs spearheaded a 9-0 run as the Braves capped it off with a pair of triples to open up a 14-2 advantage.  Evansville missed its first four shots while Bradley opened the game at 4-for-7.

After a timeout, Blake Simmons found Dainius Chatkevicius for a layup for the Aces’ first field goal of the night.  Simmons then knocked down a three a minute later to make to get UE within seven at 14-7.  A 7-0 run was finished off with a Dru Smith bucket as the Aces got within five.  The UE defense held Bradley to 1 of its next 8 from the field following their hot start.

A pair of BU shots saw them retake a 9-point lead at 20-11 midway through the half before Noah Frederking found Chatkevicius cutting to the basket for an and-one.  Simmons hit a triple on the next trip down the floor to make it a 20-17 game and with just over five minutes remaining in the period, John Hall connected on a basket to cut the Bradley lead to just one.

The 1000^th point of Simmons career was a big one as it countered the Braves 3-point possession making it a 26-25 game heading into the final four minutes of the half.  From there, the Braves were able to finish the period on a 10-0 run as Donte Thomas hit a three with just five ticks remaining to send the Brave into halftime up 36-25.

Simmons milestone was the second major one to happen for UE in the last three season at Carver Arena.  On February 23, 2016, Egidijus Mockevicius grabbed the 1,198^th rebound of his career to break the program record, which was set by Dale Wise in 1961.

Out of the break, the Braves reeled off six in a row to open up a 42-25 lead in the first three minutes of the period.  Smith got the team on the board with a layup at the 16:48 mark before Ryan Taylor got into the scoring column.  The junior missed his first eight shots of the night, but he never gave up, knocking down three field goals in a row as part of a 14-2 run.  Smith completed the rally with a trey to make it a 44-39 game with 12:21 on the clock.

In the following four minutes, the Braves regained the momentum, going on a 10-2 run to see their lead grow back to 13 at 54-41.  Over that span, the Aces hit one of their four attempts while turning it over five times.  Simmons was true from downtown once again with seven minutes left to get the Aces back within 11.

UE continued to chip away.  With under five minutes remaining, a great shot by Taylor got the lead under ten before a pair of free throws by Smith got UE within six (56-50) as three minutes were on the clock.  UE was unable to get any closer as the Braves offense finished the game on a 10-3 run to earn a 66-53 victory.

BU finished the game shooting 42.6% while the Aces finished at 31.6%.  The rebounding statistic also went Bradley’s way by a 41-34 final.

Wednesday evening will see the Aces make their first trip to Valparaiso since the school joined the Missouri Valley Conference last year.

 

Competing in its first meet since 1985, the University of Evansville men’s and women’s track and field teams took to the track inside the Athletics Center Fieldhouse on the campus of Fort Wayne.

In the dual-scored meet, the Aces’ men defeated IUPUI (57.00-29.00) and Morehead State (62.00-16.00), while the women’s team fell in all nine of its matchups.

For the men’s side, Evansville’s highest finish of the day came in the pole vault as freshman Ian Alberts finished fourth among the 10-vaulter field with a height of 4.10 meters. Fellow freshman Kevin Yeung joined Alberts in the pole vault competition, finishing in a tie for eighth with a height of 3.20 meters.

Racing at a distance much shorter than he has been accustomed to in a pair of season’s with the Aces’ cross country team, sophomore Stanley Chepchieng excelled in the 800 meters earning an 11th-place finish with a time of 2:03.67. Also in the 800, sophomore Tucker Dawson finished in 2:12.82 in 17th, while freshman Alton Hoops (2:24.12) and sophomore Jonathan Newby (2:34.29) crossed the finish line in 19th and 20th, respectively.

Evansville also saw success in the mile run as freshman Ethan Price (23rd) finished just over 13 seconds shy of a top 10 finish with a time of 4:36.29 in the tightly bunched field.

For the Aces’ women’s team, much like her counterpart on the men’s team, freshman Anna Lowry found success in the 800 meters, finishing 15th with a time of 2:32.03. Lowry finished the race less than five seconds off the fifth-place finisher. Also for the Aces in the 800, freshman Izzy Dawson crossed the line in 21st just seven seconds behind Lowry while freshman Lexi Sutherland finished 24th in 2:46.03.

Freshman Nikki Hutchcraft represented the Aces in the 60-meter dash, finishing 19th among the 30-sprinter field in a time of 8.30.

In the final women’s event of the afternoon, the Aces put together a successful run in the 4×400 meter relay. Evansville finished ninth among the 13 teams competing in the relay, finishing in a time of 4:27.82 ahead of A-teams from Morehead State and Valparaiso and Northern Kentucky’s B-team.

Both men’s and women’s squads return to indoor competition on February 3 at the Don Denoon Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois.