Redbirds take 86-79 win over Aces

NORMAL, Ill. – Another eventful day on the floor for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team saw the Purple Aces come up just short on Sunday, falling to Illinois State by an 86-79 score inside CEFCU Arena.

Ben Humrichous led the Purple Aces with 21 points, all of which came in the second half.  He was 8-of-15 from the field and converted five 3-point tries.  Yacine Toumi and Kenny Strawbridge Jr. scored 13 apiece while Cam Haffner tied his season-high with 11.  Four Redbirds reached double figures with Malachi Poindexter recording a game-high 27.

“We did not to the job we needed to defensively today and Illinois State came out and took advantage of it.  They had a big win at Indiana State and came out with confidence today,” UE head men’s basketball coach David Ragland stated.  “The offense played really well and took good shots; you just cannot give up 86 points on the road and expect to win.”

Toumi opened the scoring with a putback with the Purple Aces taking a 4-0 lead.  In the blink of an eye, Illinois State recorded 10 in a row to take their first lead of the afternoon.  Gage Bobe knocked down a trey to cut into the deficit, but ISU came right back.  Converting their first six 3-point attempts of the game, ISU held a 30-15 lead at the 11:06 mark.

Evansville utilized the remainder of the half to cut into the deficit.  Cam Haffner, who matched his season scoring high of 11 in the first half alone, nailed back-to-back three’s to make it a 32-24 game inside of seven minutes remaining.  Antonio Thomas connected from outside in the final minute to get UE within five, but three Redbird free throws capped the first half scoring as they took a 44-36 lead into the break.  Both squads were lights out from outside in the period, each hitting seven of their 11 attempts.

Out of the break, UE caught fire.  Toumi opened the scoring before Ben Humrichous reeled off five in a row to cut the defcit to one – 44-43.  Just two minutes later, Humrichous connected from downtown once again to get the Aces within a pair at 48-46.  ISU came back with a 3-pointer of their own to push the lead to five, but Humrichous was true from long range once again as his 11^th point of the period made it a 51-49 game at the 14:08 mark.

Humrichous continued his dominant second half with a jumper that tied it up before drilling a 3-pointer to put UE in front at 56-53 with 10:49 showing on the clock.  Kenny Strawbridge Jr. followed with a 3-point play to push the advantage to 59-55.  The Redbirds made their way back with a 5-0 run to jump back in front as the contest entered its final eight minutes.

Two minutes later, Strawbridge put the lead back in the Aces hands with a triple to make it a 66-64 game.  ISU countered with 10 in a row to take a 74-66 advantage with just over two minutes showing.  Strawbridge ended the stretch, knocking down three free throw tries to make it a 5-point game entering the final two minutes.  Unfortunately, ISU countered with a triple on the ensuing possession.

With the ISU lead still at eight entering the final minute, Humrichous connected on a three to cut it to a 5-point lead.  Illinois State missed the front end of a one-and-one to put the ball right back in UE’s hands.  Toumi scored on a drive to make it a 1-possession game at 79-76.  That would unfortunately be the closest the Aces would get as Illinois State finished the day with the 86-79 decision.

Both squads finished the day shooting 50% or higher.  ISU finished at 53.7% while UE checked in at an even 50%.  Each team also converted 13 3-pointers. Evansville will look to end a 3-game skid on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. road game at UIC.

TULSA, Okla. –  The University of Evansville baseball team jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on Sunday, and then held off a hard-charging #26 Oral Roberts squad for a 7-6 victory at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma to win the season-opening series on the road.

“I knew that we were going to learn a lot about our ballclub today, and for us to come out and put up four on the board and chase their starter in the first inning was exciting to see,” said Wes Carroll, who was coaching in his 800th career game as head coach of the Purple Aces on Sunday.  “That also allowed freshman Kevin Reed to just settle in on the mound, and what he gave us over five strong innings was enormous.

“I am really proud of the effort that our guys gave today, and we are definitely excited to get back home mid-week and play in front of our fans.”

Evansville wasted no time in grabbing a lead it would never lose on Sunday, as the Purple Aces sent nine men to the plate in the first inning to take a 4-0 lead.  Senior Kip Fougerousse started the rally with an RBI single, before senior shortstop Simon Scherry and junior designated hitter Evan Waggoner followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to plate all four runs in the frame.

UE would add a fifth run in the second inning on a run-scoring double-play ground ball to grab a 5-0 lead.  Oral Roberts would respond with two unearned runs in the second inning, and a solo home run in the third inning, before UE freshman left-hander Kevin Reed would silence the ORU bats.  Reed (1-0) earned the victory in his first collegiate start, scattering three runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks, while striking out one.

UE would push the lead back to three runs in the top of the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by graduate third baseman Brent Widder.  Then, Fougerousse launched a long solo home run in the top of the seventh inning for insurance to move the lead to 7-3.  The insurance would be needed, as Oral Roberts answered back with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning, before fifth-year senior closer Jakob Meyer came on to get out of the jam.  Meyer then worked perfect eighth and ninth innings to close the door and earn the seven-out save.

Fougerousse led Evansville offensively by going 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI.  Waggoner also delivered a two-run double, and six different Purple Aces came through with base hits.

With the victory, Evansville earned the season-opening series victory and improved to 2-1.  Oral Roberts, who was ranked #26 in the NCBWA preseason poll and was receiving votes in the USA Today/Coaches preseason poll as well, finished the series 1-2.  Evansville will now return home to host Bellarmine on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Vincennes University men’s and women’s Indoor Track and Field teams closed out the 2024 Indoor regular season Saturday at the Indiana State University Open in Terre Haute.

VU pole vaulters, sophomore Olegs Kozjakovs and freshman Sophia Armaral stole the show for the Trailblazer teams, with Kozjakovs placing second after clearing a height of 4.81 meters and Armaral taking the top spot on the women’s side with a mark of 4.01 meters.

Sophia’s sister and 2023 Indoor Pole Vault National Champion sophomore Julia Armaral also had a good showing, placing ninth with a best of 3.26 meters.

Kozjakovs wasn’t done there however, competing in the shot put as well and placing 10th with a best throw of 14.23 meters.

The rest of the VU men’s team was highlighted by he sprinters, led by freshman Tumaini Skinner who placed third in the 200 meters with a time of 22.69 seconds.

Sophomore Cohen Gallant took home fourth place in the 60 meter sprint, finishing with a time of 6.92 seconds, while freshman Clinton Laguerre also took home fourth in the 400 meters with a time of 50.77 seconds.

Skinner and Laguerre then teamed up with freshman Olamipo Ladipo and sophomore Desroy Jordan in the 4×400 relay, where the team placed second with a time of 3:46.05.

The men’s distance team also had a few standout performances Saturday, led by freshman Cody Noel (Hebron, Ind.) who placed sixth in the 3000 meters with a time of 9:07.29, just in front of teammate freshman Bryaun Manuel (East St. Louis, Ill.) who placed 12th with a time of 9:55.44.

The Trailblazers flooded the mile race, led by sophomore Isaac Stanford (Flora, Ill.) who placed seventh with a time of 4:25.71.

Freshmen Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill.), Caden Hostetler (LaGrange, Ind.) and Nathan Whitehead (Vincennes, Ind.) also took part in the mile race, with Spence finishing 17th at 4:35.38, Hostetler placing 23rd at 4:44.57 and Whitehead taking 24th at 4:59.33.

Spence then took part in the 800 meter race where he led the Blazers with a 23rd place finish with a time of 2:04.65.

Sophomore Matthew Gray (Washington, Ind.) and freshman Alex Kwizera (Indianapolis, Ind.) rounded out the VU men’s team results with Gray placing 28th at 2:15.06 and Kwizera placing 29th with a time of 2:16.31.

“The pole vault was probably the highlight of the day,” VU Head Track and Field Coach Marty Rogier said. “Sophia, the top jumper in the NJCAA, broke the meet record by clearing 4.01 meters. That’s two weeks in a row she has cleared over 13 feet and again, took really good shots at 4.12 or 13 feet 6 inches. Olegs claimed the top spot in the NJCAA by clearing 4.81 meters or 15 feet 9 inches and had a good shot at 4.96 meters or 16 feet 3 inches. Not too bad for a decathlete who trains for 10 individual events.”

“We took a shot at a couple more qualifiers but I think we were kind of running on fumes after competing for six straight weeks,” Rogier added. “We try to constantly reinforce with our team that the indoor season is a grind. To train hard and compete every weekend is physically and mentally challenging. Especially with the competition we have faced at every meet.”

“I was pleased with our efforts and I’m hopeful we came away with no new injuries or issues,” Rogier said. “Now we just have to get ready for the National Championships in Gainesville. I’m really looking forward to us competing on the big stage. I’m excited for our program because we have qualified in 14 events. We have athletes ranked number one in three events and four more in the top 10.”

On the women’s side, sophomore Madison Davis was the next best finisher for Vincennes behind Sophia, placing fourth in the shot put with a best throw of 12.09 meters.

Freshman Emilly Barbosa (Sao Paulo, Brazil) led a team of distance runners in the 800 meters, placing ninth overall with a time of 2:27.94.

Freshmen Adi Fuller (Evansville, Ind.), Jasmyn Self (Casey, Ill.) and Grayson Haynes (Sebree, Ky.) were all close behind, with Fuller taking 11th with a time of 2:32.84, Self placing 13th at 2:39.24 and Haynes ending in 14th at 2:51.83.

Sophomore Gwen Weaver pulled the daily double as well for the Trailblazers, taking 14th in the 60 meter dash at 9.47 seconds and then turning around to place 15th in the 200 meters with a time of 32.37 seconds.

Freshman Zinzile Gumpo rounded out the VU day on the track after placing 15th in the 60 meter hurdles with a final time of 9.84 seconds.

“Overall, it wasn’t a bad meet but it felt a little disappointing coming off last week where everyone ran well,” VU Assistant Track and Field Coach and Distance Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “Tanner, by far, had the best meet out of all the distance runners. He had his best mile ever and came back to run a good 800 on very short rest.”

“The women had some decent season’s bests in the 800 as well, bumping up our 4×800 seed by a few seconds,” Steigenga added. “Looking forward to seeing what we can do for Nationals and hoping we saved our best for the last meet of the season. Everyone will have a weekend to rest up and get in the right mindset for the Championships.”

The ISU Open did have team scoring, a rarity for the VU Indoor Season and the Trailblazers more than held their own, with the men’s team placing third out of seven teams, ahead of NCAA Division I programs University of Southern Indiana and University of Evansville.

The VU women’s team placed seventh as a team, just nine points shy of the University of Southern Indiana.

CARTERVILLE, Ill. – The No. 4-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers hit the road Saturday afternoon for another tough Region 24 matchup against the defending NJCAA Division I National Champion John A. Logan Volunteers.

The Trailblazers looked to be rolling towards another victory midway through the second half holding a 57-42 lead over the Vols, before the Volunteers turned it on late and rode the crowd’s momentum to a 72-71 overtime victory over the Blazers.

VU looked to have possibly turned a corner early on Saturday afternoon against the Volunteers, opening the game by scoring nine of the first 12 points to hold an early six point lead.

The Volunteers responded back with a 10-2 scoring run to take their first lead of the game at 15-13.

The lead would continue to flip throughout the first half, with seven lead changes in the first half alone before the Blazers carried a five point lead into the locker room break.

After Vincennes continued to extend their lead in the second half to eight, the Volunteers answered back to cut the VU lead down to one at 39-38.

The Trailblazers would then appear to be on the brink of putting the game away after a 14-2 scoring run gave Vincennes a 57-42 lead midway through the second half.

It was at this point where the Volunteers switched to a zone defense which the Trailblazers struggled to handle.

John A. Logan used a 9-0 scoring run to cut the VU lead down to six and slowly chipped away before a pair of free throws game the Volunteers their first lead since 26-25 with just 3.3 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Trailblazers called timeout to set up a last second shot at the buzzer and were able to find an opening for sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) to put in a layup to even the score at 63-63 at the buzzer and send the game into overtime.

The Volunteers took the early lead in overtime after scoring the first basket of the period, before the two teams began trading baskets.

VU would get back within striking distance after cutting the lead down to one with just under a minute remaining.

After a pair of free throw misses by the Volunteers, Vincennes again raced down the floor looking for another last second buzzer beater but were unable to convert as the Blazers fell in overtime to the Volunteers 72-71.

“I’m very disappointed,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I’m disappointed in myself that I have not been able to find a way to get these guys to get focused and hard-edged in these moments. Because that’s what goes on. Then we quit functioning and we quit functioning all of the plays and then we start looking around and making excuses. And that’s on me. But I’m at my whit’s end. I’ve done everything. I’ve sat down, I’ve not said much, I’ve gotten after them, you name it. Because I’ve seen it and I’ve seen it time and time again.”

“So it’s my fault that I have not been a good enough coach to figure out how to make it happen,” Franklin added. “But I’m going to be really honest, I’ve tried about everything. Because this isn’t the first time. It’s a recurring theme. Then we completely stop doing what we are supposed to and are undisciplined. We quit running our stuff right on offense, we were out of position on defense. We don’t want the ball inside and we don’t have anybody outside that wants anything to do with it. So now, what do you do?”

“I’m disappointed because right now we should be 25-0,” Franklin said. “And we should be a hardened team. We’re an old team. We should be a tough and mentally tough basketball team right now and we’re not. That is 100 percent a reflection on me and that really bothers me because I detest that. We’ve lost the Olney game for sure for that reason, this game today for sure for that reason and probably the Indian Hills game. All of them we had the ball in our hands to go and win it at the end. Then we’ve had several close games where we’ve continually got to that 12 or 13 point lead and gone down. Now people throw a zone against us like it’s something difficult.”

“We know what to run against it, we know what to try to run against it, but there has to be some functioning that goes on,” Franklin added. “I don’t have an answer on who will be the answer. I don’t know who that will be and that frustrates me. Because, obviously, when you could be 25-0 and you’re right there and I think we can be a lot better than we are and I’ve thought that the whole time and that’s frustrated me. At times during practice or just going through the day-to-day, it can feel like I’m sometimes alone in that.”

“Honestly, I’m probably not going to be the answer,” Franklin said. “Because I don’t have any magic formula to wave over their heads. But then you have to work with the fact, just like today, we didn’t have anybody that’s going to hit a shot. For most of the game, we could configure it to where we didn’t have to hit a shot. It takes a lot of movement and a lot of looks to be able to do that when the other team is not going to respect that. We were able to do that against a man, but when we get against a zone, it’s a little tougher. But we could still get the shot. We got the ball inside and things opened up and things were there. We come off a screen and have an elbow jumper there that’s broke down. There were opportunities there, even though we were stale with it. But I can’t just manipulate it completely. You can do things that cause you to have some advantages. But with a 15 points lead, if we just guard down the stretch, we just started sticking on screens.”

“But again, who is the leader,” Franklin added. “I don’t want to get frustrated. If you’ve watched me, I’ve been sitting as much as I can hoping that maybe that would help. But then there a point where the competitor in you is going to say, ‘wait a minute’. But neither seems to elicit the proper response right now, so many we just can’t do it. I hope that we can. I think we can. I think it should be very doable to do what you need to do to finish this game out with a win. But maybe we can’t. Maybe that’s a bridge too far.”

The Trailblazers were led offensively by freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who finished with 24 points and a team-high eight rebounds and four assists.

Sophomore Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) got the offense going early, scoring 13 first half points to finish with a season-high 22 points and five rebounds.

Sophomore Ryan Oliver was the third VU scorer in double figures, ending with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Sophomore Karyiek Dixon (Enfield, London, UK) also pitched in with seven points and three rebounds for Vincennes.

The Trailblazers will look to bounce back when VU returns home to the Physical Education Complex Wednesday, Feb. 21 when Vincennes hosts Southwestern Illinois College at 7 p.m. eastern.

“I want to see the same thing that I want to see every day, I want to see them working with urgency, I want to see them working with some excitement and intensity,” Franklin said. “But all that’s fine. It’s what are you going to do when those lights come on on game night and you need to do all of those things to get yourself sharpe.”

“But we’ve practiced against everything we’re seeing and handled it,” Franklin added. “I thought we were manipulating them. I thought defensively we had them most of the night where they weren’t scoring very many points and then we just kind of stopped. Then we start looking around and start making excuses for the same actions that we’ve been dealing with all game. I don’t want to see that. I want to see us get hard-edged, get down and want to compete. But maybe that’s just not our personality. Maybe that’s just not who we are. So there is where the clash comes in as a coach, I’ve coached those types of guys forever and I like to think that I’m that kind of guy and I just can’t seem to get this team to be that kind of team.”

“They will play somewhat,” Franklin said. “But that hard edge mentality, if we don’t get it then we have no chance of doing the things that we’ve talked about. And if we would have had more of it by now, we would be 25-0. I don’t think anybody can argue that. I’m very frustrated because I would like us to get to do that and obviously, I want that to happen and I’ve thrown about every tactic there is at it at this point. Who’s on the bench, who’s playing, well if somebody will do it, they will get to play. It’s who is going to be those guys in the moment instead of the blank face looks we’ve been getting. Which, again, I don’t want that.”

“If you’ve been around the last few weeks, you’ve seen that I’m going to let them step up and I’m going to analytically try and take it,” Franklin added. “I, probably, down the stretch got a little more fired up about some things but nothing crazy. But until they want to do it and they look in the mirror and have some hard discussions with themselves, it’s not going to happen. Maybe it can’t happen and if it can’t happen then maybe I am expecting too much from them. Those are the options here. Until they get tired enough of this to grit their teeth and find another gear, this is what’s going to keep happening.”

“We had that happen last week, that’s why we had 60 points twice,” Franklin said. “It’s the same stuff that causes it. But we’ll see. Obviously, if we ever find a way to get another gear and another concentration level, we can win all of our games and we can beat everybody we play. It’s there in front of them. But it just seems to be a little hard for them right now. I wish I had another answer to give to them. But I don’t. Because that’s the type of hard thing that you are going to have to get over if you are going to be a champ instead of a team that just won some games. That’s one of the prices that you have to pay to be a champion. That’s why being a champion is a really, really special thing. It’s not something that just gets handed to you and right now we haven’t crossed that line to where you’ll be champions. Hopefully we can but if we keep giving opportunities away, opportunities quit happening.”

The Purple Aces competed in their final meet before MVC’s

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The University of Evansville track and field team earned two podium finishes at the last meet before the conference championship next Sunday.

In their last tune-up for competition against only Missouri Valley Conference teams, the Purple Aces had their best women’s finish of the season at fourth. The women got to their best result with several points in the 800-meter race, taking all but one of the top five spots. Both teams earned meet-record results in the 800-meter race while setting multiple track PRs.

In the women’s 800-meter race, Nicole Prauchner (Neuhofen an der Ybbs, Austria) earned first place with a meet record of 2:13.51. Kalina Urbaniak (Suchy Las, Poland) and Eilen Brenne (Skien, Norway) also set meet records with times of 2:17.04 and 2:17.48 respectively. Nayla Martin (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada) also finished in the top five with a time of 2:19.03.

On the men’s side, Rafael Rodriguez (Segovia, Spain) and Alvaro Monfort (Castile Y Leon, Spain) set meet records with times of 1:56.07 and 1:56.54 for eighth and 10^th place. Also finishing in the Top 15 were Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn. / Central HS) and Tommaso Losma (Lombardia, Italy). Losma set a PR to finish 14^th with a time of 1:58.59.

UE also had strong finishes on the track in the men’s and women’s mile races. Samuel Lea (Worchester, England) set a PR of 4:20.59 in the men’s mile to finish fifth while Owen Cuplin finished 18^th with a time of 4:36.59. On the women’s side, both Sarah Vanderhoof-Dossett (Franklin, Tenn. / Independence HS) and Kyndall Anthis (Pakota, Ind. / Princeton Community HS) set PRs at 5:22.50 and 5:38.78 for sixth and 12^th place respectively.

Evansville’s sprinters had top 10 finishes in the men’s 60 meter dash, the women’s 60 meter hurdles, and the men’s 400-meter race. Freshman Austin Liversgowdy (Florence, Ky. / Cooper HS) had the best finish in the 400-meter race at sixth with a time of 51.16 seconds followed closely by Jose Ocampo (Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico) in ninth at 52.22 seconds. Raymond Felton III (Houston / Clear Brook HS) finished the men’s 60-meter dash in seventh with a time of 7.16 seconds while Kate Walke (Batesville, Ind. / Oldenburg Academy) ran 10^th in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.59.

Three more PRs were set for the Aces in their field events of the day. Graduate thrower Jaden Hayes (Huntingburg, Ind. / Southridge HS) had PRs in both the men’s shot put and weight throw with throws of 14.81 meters and 17.83 meters for ninth and fifth-place finishes. Freshman thrower Jillian Miller (Boonville, Ind. / Boonville HS) also set a PR for the women in the shot put with a throw of 9.36 meters for seventh place.

Also throwing for the women were Brooke Springer (Henderson, Ky. / Henderson Community HS) and Kaitlyn Sansone (Fairfield, Ohio / Mercy McAuley HS) in the shot put with throws of 9.07 and 8.83 meters. In the weight throw, Gwen Darrah (Cleveland, Ohio / Orange HS) finished fourth with a throw of 12.80 meters while Springer was fifth at 12.23 meters. Hannah Bryan (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz HS) also threw seventh with a throw of 10.98 meters.

Rounding out throwing events for the Aces were Zach Dove (Princeton, Ind. / Princeton Community HS) and Cole Johnson (Salem, Ill. / Salem Community HS) on the men’s side. Dove placed seventh in the weight throw while Johnson placed 13^th with throws of 17.39 meters and 11.31 meters respectively. Dove also threw in the men’s shot put for eighth place with a throw of 14.82 meters.

UE will have a little over a week off before heading to Chicago for the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships. Co-hosted by UIC and Valparaiso, the indoor championship will run on Sunday, Feb. 25, and Monday, Feb. 26. Events are set to begin at 9 a.m. on the 25^th.