University of Southern Indiana junior All-American Emily Roberts (Fredericktown, Ohio) and senior All-American Chase Broughton (Marengo, Indiana) have been named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Scholar Athletes of the Year form men’s and women’s cross country, respectively, in a vote by the league’s faculty athletic representatives.

Roberts continued to impress in 2016 after a breakout sophomore year in 2015. The junior earned GLVC Runner of the Year honors after defeating the field at the GLVC Championships. Robert was the first USI runner to accomplish the feat since Jackie Henderson in 2011, while also leading the Eagles to their sixth-straight conference championship.

An exercise science major with a 3.75 GPA, Roberts earned her fourth-career All-America honor in addition to All-Midwest Region accolades after finishing fifth at the NCAA Division II National Championships and second at the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships. Roberts finished fifth at the National Championships for the second-consecutive year, which matches the best finish in program history accomplished by Mary Ballinger in 2009.

Roberts earned the award for the second consecutive year. In 2015, she became the fifth USI women’s cross country runner in program history to garner GLVC Scholar Athlete of the Year honors and the first since Jackie Henderson in 2010.

Broughton earns the award for the first time in his career after scoring All-American honors for the second time in his career, as well as All-Region honors with finishes of sixth and 27^th.

The top USI finisher at the NCAA II National Championships and NCAA II Midwest Regional, Broughton helped propel USI to their 12^th-consecutive GLVC Championship with a fourth-place finish. In the process, Broughton earned his third cross country All-GLVC nod.

Currently a graduate student pursuing a master’s in Sport Management, Broughton has a 4.00 GPA in the program. Broughton is the fourth student athlete in program history to earn GLVC Scholar Athlete of the Year honors. USI Men’s Cross Country has earned the award three-straight years with former All-American Johnnie Guy repeating in 2014 and 2015.

UE back at Ford Center for next two contests

 TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Jaylon Brown went a perfect 16-for-16 from the free throw line on his way to a game-high 25 points, but Brenton Scott countered with 22 to give Indiana State an 85-84 overtime win over the University of Evansville men’s basketball team on Wednesday evening at the Hulman Center.

Brown led all scorers with his efforts while playing 43 of the 45 minutes.  Ryan Taylor totaled 18 points while Christian Benzon recorded 12 and Dru Smith had 10 for UE (10-14, 1-10 MVC).

Scott hit 7 of his 12 attempts and three triples on his way to pace the Sycamores (8-15, 2-9 MVC).  Everett Clemons had 14 points while three other ISU players recorded double figures.

“We played hard tonight.  We executed well and did some good things, but we were not able to stop them in the second half,” UE head coach Marty Simmons said.

Hitting four of its first five shots and four free throws, the Purple Aces started the night taking a 13-3 lead.  Ryan Taylor had seven of those points, hitting all three of his opening attempts.  Matt Van Scyoc ended the stretch with a three as the Sycamores responded with an 8-2 stretch, cutting the gap so six four points.

Triples by Christian Benzon and Dru Smith saw UE takes its largest lead to that point at 33-22 with 4:43 left before Indiana State responded once again.  Treys by Van Scyoc and Brenton Scott came in an 8-0 stretch that made it a 3-point lead for the Aces.  Jaiveon Eaves helped to overcome the run as his triple put UE back up at 38-32.

UE added to the lead in the final moments, extending their edge to ten at 42-32 going into the locker room.  Shooting 63.6%, the Aces were led by 10 points from Jaylon Brown.

After Indiana State got within eight points in the opening three minutes of the second half, Evansville was able to turn back-to-back turnovers into four points as they opened up a 48-36 edge.  Brenton Scott continued to bring ISU closer as his triple was part of a rally that saw ISU cut their deficit to 50-44 with 12:16 on the clock.

With under nine minutes remaining, the Sycamores got within a possession at 56-54 as Jordan Barnes connected on two free throws before Taylor responded on the other end to give UE a 4-point edge.  Indiana State held UE to 1-of-9 shooting as they were able to take their first lead of the game.  Jordan Barnes was fouled on a triple and hit all three free throws to give ISU a 59-56 lead with six minutes remaining.  On the other end, Brown put the lead right back in UE’s hands with a triple of his own.

Six lead changes ensued leading to a 71-71 game before ISU hit a pair of free throws to go up 73-71.  On the ensuing possession, Taylor connected from downtown to give the Aces a 74-73 lead with 70 ticks left.  T.J. Bell put the lead back into ISU’s hands with an and-one on the other end to put the Sycamores up 76-74 with 35 seconds remaining.  Brown hit a layup of his own following a time out give Indiana State one final change with the shot clock off, but a jumper by Scott at the buzzer fell short forcing overtime.

UE forced a turnover on ISU’s opening possession and on the other end, Dru Smith posted an and-one to give the Aces a 79-76 advantage.  Midway through the extra period, Bell gave ISU its first OT lead with his jumper, making it an 81-80 ballgame.  The back-and-forth play continued as Brown gave UE the lead right back with two free throws.  The lead switched two more times leading to an 84-83 Evansville lead with under 30 seconds left.  That is when Brenton Scott struck again as his bucket gave ISU an 85-84 lead with 12 ticks left.  On UE’s possession, the ball got knocked out of bounds with 0.6 on the clock as the final chance fell just short on the in-bound.