Aces and Bulldogs to square off on Sunday

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A 2-game road swing begins on Sunday as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team heads to Des Moines, Iowa to face Drake on Sunday at 3 p.m.

A 23.5% shooting night saw the Aces drop a 74-63 decision to Bradley on Wednesday night.  The Aces did a nice job of getting to the foul line, attempting 46 free throws while connecting on 37.  Jaylon Brown went 17-of-20 from the line to finish with 21 points.  Ryan Taylor (18 points) and Christian Benzon (13) also registered double figures.  Evansville finished with 12 field goals and a final shooting tally of 23.5%, both team lows in the Marty Simmons era, which dates back to 2007.  Bradley finished the night shooting an even 50%, the first team to reach that mark against UE this season.

The top scorer in the MVC hit his mark against Bradley despite going just 2-of-13 from the field.  Jaylon Brown made his way to the free throw line 20 times, knocking down 17 of his attempts, the most since D.J. Balentine against Illinois State in 2014.  Brown finished with 21 points and continues to lead the league with 20.9 points per game.  His sixth point of the game saw him hit 1,000 in his career, becoming the 48th player in program history to do so.

For the first time in his career, Christian Benzon has notched back-to-back games hitting double figures as he tallied 13 points against Bradley.  That came on the heels of a 6-of-10 outing from the field in the win over UNI as he totaled 17 points.  He continues to be the top rebounder for the Aces, checking in with 4.9 per game; over the last six games, Benzon has notched 6.2 caroms per contest.

Drake stands at 3-12 and 1-2 in Valley play coming into Sunday’s game against the Aces.  The Bulldogs opened conference play with a 102-98 win over Loyola but dropped road tilts at Southern Illinois and Wichita State in its latest contests.

Reed Timmer leads the way for the Bulldogs with 15.9 points per game and is a solid shooter, checking in at 44.1%.  Billy Wampler enters play with 12.5 PPG while hitting 44.0% of his 3-point attempts.  Drake continues to rely on its outside game; as a team, the Bulldogs have attempted 344 3-pointers on the season while the Aces have tried 170.

Evansville holds a 25-21 lead in the series versus Drake and has won five out of the last six meetings.  The Aces have struggled at the Knapp Center in recent years, dropping six of the last seven match-ups on the road.  Overall, UE is 10-12 in road games against the Bulldogs.

University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Stein earned his 300^th career win Thursday evening as the Screaming Eagles defeated William Jewell College, 57-39, in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at the Physical Activities Center.

The Screaming Eagles (11-2, 3-0 GLVC) used a stifling defensive effort in the opening period as they built a comfortable 30-13 halftime deficit.

USI held the Cardinals without a field goal for nearly eight minutes to open the game as it jumped out to a 12-1 advantage. The Eagles held William Jewell to just 14.3 percent (2-14) shooting in the first quarter as they ended the period with a 16-6 advantage.

The Eagles went on an 11-0 run in the second period to build a commanding 30-8 lead before the Cardinals could get anything going.

William Jewell (5-6, 2-2 GLVC) scored the final five minutes of the half; then put up the first three points of the third quarter to cut USI’s lead to 14 points. USI, however, answered as junior guard/forward Kaydie Grooms (Marshall, Illinois) scored five straight points to put momentum back into the Eagles’ corner.

USI essentially ended any chance of a William Jewell comeback later in the quarter as the Eagles scored nine straight points to build a 44-20 lead with just under three minutes to play in the frame.

Grooms, who had five of USI’s nine points in the run, led the Eagles with a game-high 15 points, four assists, and three steals, while senior guard Tanner Marcum (New Albany, Indiana) added 11 points and five rebounds. Marcum had seven of USI’s first nine points in the contest.

Both teams struggled to take care of the ball as each finished with 22 turnovers. USI, however, had a 44-34 edge on the glass, led by junior forward Morgan Dahlstrom (Grayslake, Illinois), who finished with eight points and a team-best 11 rebounds.

Senior guard Maddie Nelson, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in her career, paced the Cardinals with 13 points and 10 rebounds. William Jewell shot just 23.5 percent (12-51) from the field and was 2-of-22 (.091) from three-point range.

USI returns to action Saturday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Rockhurst University at the PAC. The Hawks (8-3, 3-1 GLVC) suffered an 81-75 setback to No. 4 Bellarmine University Thursday evening in Louisville, Kentucky.

The University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team restarted Great Lakes Valley Conference play with an 88-71 victory over William Jewell College Thursday evening at the Physical Activities Center. USI sees its record go to 13-0 overall for the third time in the history of the program and 3-0 in the GLVC, while William Jewell is 3-8, 0-4 GLVC.

The victory also was the 100th career victory at the Physical Activities Center for Head Coach Rodney Watson. Watson, who was named the Division II Bulletin Coach of the Month for December, has an overall career record of 171-49 (.777), 92-37 in the GLVC (.752).

The Screaming Eagles struggled to get a bucket in the first three minutes of the game, trailing early, 2-0 and 4-2, to the Cardinals before taking the lead for good on a 12-1 run to make the score, 14-5, with 13:31 left in the opening half. USI would push the lead to its largest of the first 20 minutes, 11 points, with an 8-0 burst to get the score to 27-16.

William Jewell, however, ignited for a run of its own to cut the USI margin to five points twice before the Eagles took a 45-37 lead into the intermission. Senior guard Jeril Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky) paced the Eagles during the first half with 15 points.

In the second half, USI began to pull away from William Jewell, using at 17-2 run midway through the period to extend its halftime lead to 22 points, 78-56, with 5:49 to play. Senior guard Cortez Macklin (Louisville, Kentucky) exploded in the second half to lead the Eagles’ run, hitting three three-point bombs and scoring all 12 of his points during the final 20 minutes.

The Eagles would go on to lead by as many as 24 points, 85-61, with 3:25 remaining and cruised to the 88-71 final.

Individually, Taylor would lead three Eagles in double-digits with 17 points, while sophomore guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) and Macklin followed with 13 points and 12 points, respectively.

USI concludes its three-game homestand Saturday at 3:15 p.m. when it welcomes Rockhurst University to the PAC. The USI-Rockhurst game Saturday is the annual Varsity Club/Alumni Association Soup & Hot Dog Dinner.

Rockhurst saw its record go to 7-4 overall, 1-2 in the GLVC, after losing, 80-71, at Bellarmine University tonight in Louisville, Kentucky. The loss snapped the Hawk’s four-game winning streak.

The Eagles are 16-1 all-time against Rockurst and have won the last 13-straight contests with the Hawks. USI, which is 7-0 versus the Hawks at the PAC, posted a 79-71 road victory last year behind the 19-point, eight-rebound effort of George Edwards.