Aces drop fourth in a row on Saturday

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the second game in a row, Ryan Taylor and Jaylon Brown scored 19 points apiece, but a late push by Southern Illinois saw them earn a 73-61 win over the University of Evansville men’s basketball team on Saturday afternoon at the Ford Center.

The duo for UE (10-9, 1-5 MVC) hit 12 out of 19 attempts on the day and were 12 out of 13 from the free trow line.  Behind them, Dru Smith and David Howard finished with six points apiece.

Three Saluki (11-8, 4-2 MVC) players finished in double figures, led by a 20-point game from Mike Rodriguez.  He drained a game-high nine free throws.  Sean Lloyd finished with 14 while Thik Bowl tallied 12.

Saturday’s game saw the program honor legendary head coach Jim Crews.  He was recognized with a proclamation before the game while former players in attendance joined him on the floor at halftime.-

“Give Southern Illinois credit, they got off to a good start and kept it going,” UE head coach Marty Simmons said.  “Defensively, for a large portion of the game, I thought we did pretty well, but when you have breakdowns it is tough to recover.”

Evansville led for the majority of the first half, going by as many as nine points, but a late push saw Southern Illinois head to the locker room with a 33-31 lead.  Ryan Taylor led everyone with 12 points in the opening half, going a perfect 5-of-5 from the field.

The Aces opened the game on a 6-2 stretch with David Howard scoring four of those tallies.  After SIU tied it up at 6-6, UE went back on top as an 11-2 run gave them a 17-8 lead at the midway point of the half.  Evansville continued to lead at 23-15 with just over five minutes on the clock before a 13-0 run pushed the Salukis in front for the first time.  A triple by Austin Weiher made the difference as they took a 24-23 lead.  Six lead changes ensued before the Salukis wrestled away a 33-31 lead going into the half.

Southern Illinois added to its lead in the opening moment of the final period.  An 8-3 stretch, paced by an Armon Fletcher triple, saw them take a 7-point advantage (41-34) just over two minutes in.  Evansville responded in a big way.  Down 43-36, a Jaylon Brown triple with under 13 minutes remaining capped off a 7-0 run as UE tied it up.

A Thik Bowl slam ended the stretch to put SIU back on top, but Dru Smith continued his nice work since returning from injury.  His triple gave Evansville a 47-45 lead and on the ensuing SIU possession, Smith drew a charge to put the ball back in the Aces hands.

Just as fast as the Aces rallied, the Salukis did the same.   Mike Rodriguez knocked down a triple to finish off an 8-0 run that gave them a 53-47 edge with under 8 minutes left in the game.  Duane Gibson ended the stretch with his bucket, but the Salukis kept the pressure on.  The third trey of the game for Rodriguez gave SIU the first double digit lead either team would enjoy on the day at 61-51.  They added to the lead from there, going up by as many as 15 before a late UE triple made it a 73-61 final.

SIU finished with a 37-36 rebounding edge and also outshot the Aces by a 42.6%-40.0% margin.

UE has just three days to prepare for their next contest as Wichita State comes to the Ford Center for a game on Tuesday evening.  Tip is slated for 8 p.m.

In a classic Great Lakes Valley Conference game, senior guard Bobo Drummond (Peoria, Illinois) and sophomore guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) combined for 30 second half points in leading the tenth-ranked University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team to an 88-85 victory over 24^th-ranked Quincy University Saturday afternoon in Quincy, Illinois. USI sees its record go to 16-0 overall and 6-0 in the conference, while Quincy goes to 15-3, 5-2 GLVC.

The victory allows USI to keep pace and tied for first in the GLVC East Division with the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis University at 6-0 in league play. USI hosts UW-Parkside Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Lewis Saturday at 3:15 p.m. during the upcoming three-game homestand that begins Monday at 7:30 p.m. with ninth-ranked Bellarmine University.

The Screaming Eagles struggled in a first half that saw the Hawks build an eight-point lead by halftime, 40-32. Quincy and USI battled back and forth through the first 15 minutes with six ties and eight lead changes before the Hawks’ defense held the Eagles scoreless for the final 5:49 to have the advantage at halftime.

Senior guard Jeril Taylor led USI through the first 20 minutes, posting 10 points on four field goals and two three-pointers. He also reached double-digits in the first half for the eighth-straight game.

In the second half, the Hawks expanded the lead to 11 points before USI’s offense went to work. USI, trailing 49-39 with 15:44 left in the game, went on a 10-0 run to tie the game, 49-49, in less than two minutes. Quincy would regain command and built a pair of seven point leads, 62-55 and 64-57, when USI fired back to take its first lead of the half, 65-64, on an 8-0 run.

The final seven minutes would be struggle as the lead would change hands seven times and the game would be tied four times before Drummond gave USI the lead for good, 83-81, on a three-point field goal with 54 seconds left. USI would seal the 88-85 victory on a pair of free throws by Drummond and Stein and single charity shot by junior guard Marcellous Washington (Lexington, Kentucky).

USI outscored Quincy in the second half, 56-45, by shooting 56.3 percent from the field (18-32), 44.4 percent from beyond the arc (4-9); and 88.9 percent from the line.

Stein, who had a game-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double, led all USI scorers with 18 points, 16 coming in the second half. Taylor followed with 15 points, while Drummond posted all 14 of his points in the final 16 minutes.

Senior guard Cortez Macklin (Louisville, Kentucky) and junior forward Julius Rajala (Finland) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points and 12 points, respectively.

The Eagles resume action Monday with top-10 match-up when they host Bellarmine. The Knights finished this weekend’s conference action with a loss at Truman State University, 77-72, to fall to 13-3 overall and 5-1 in the GLVC.

USI leads the all-time series with Bellarmine, 50-38, with the teams splitting the last eight games. The Knights, however, won the last year’s series, taking two of three from the Eagles. Taylor led the Eagles against the Knights in last year with 19.0 points per game, followed by Drummond and Stein with 13.0 points per contest each.