UE drops final contest to College of Charleston

SAINT THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands– Monday’s third place game of the Paradise Jam saw the University of Evansville men’s basketball team fall to College of Charleston by a final score of 78-59 to finish the tournament in fifth place.

Leading the way for the Purple Aces was Connor Turnbull. He finished with team highs in points (18), rebounds (8), and blocks (3). Keishon Porter wrapped up the game with 14 points while Alex Hemenway scored 13. Martin Kalu was the top scorer in the game as he paced the Cougars with 21 points. Connor Hickman scored 15.

Alex Hemenway got UE on the board with the first two points of the game before the Cougars knocked down consecutive triples to cap an 8-0 run. Hemenway was fouled on a 3-point try and converted all three attempts to get the Aces back within three at 8-5 at the 16:17 mark.

College of Charleston took control with 11 in a row to take a 19-5 advantage with 12:37 left in the half. Just over three minutes later, the lead for the Cougars reached its highest point of the half at 26-10. Evansville made its way back scoring the next seven points to cut the deficit to nine points with Hemenway completing the rally with a triple.

Inside of five minutes remaining, Charleston regained a 14-point edge (32-18) while UE chipped away in the final minutes of the period. Dunks by Trent Hundley and Keishon Porter highlighted the rally with the Aces getting within eight at 37-29 in the final minute. The Cougars knocked down their seventh 3-pointer of the half to take a 40-29 edge at the break. Hemenway paced all players with 13 points at the half.

Connor Turnbull’s jumper started the second half before the Cougars hit another triple to go back up by 12. The Aces recorded the next four points to make it an 8-point game once again, however, Charleston slowly padded its lead. A free throw pushed the advantage to 56-41 with 13 minutes left but the next two minutes saw the Aces charge back when Turnbull hit consecutive baskets to cut the deficit to 57-49.

Over the ensuing stretch, the Cougars utilized a 15-3 run to jump out to a 72-52 lead with 4:19 remaining in the game. They led by as many as 22 points in the final minutes before wrapping up the night with a 19-point victory. The Cougars outshot the Aces by a 47.3%-38.2% margin while outrebounding UE, 42-24.

Following the current stretch of four games in seven days, the Aces are off until December 3 when they host Ball State at the Ford Center in a 7 p.m. game.

CHARLESTON, Ill.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball picks up the win over No. 6 Tennessee Tech University to advance to the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Sunday afternoon.
 
In the program’s second appearance in the tournament in school history, the Screaming Eagles took the win in a four-set battle. The game marked the third time USI has met the Golden Eagles this season, after splitting a home-and-away series 1-1.
 
In the winningest season in the program’s Division I era, USI moves to a 19-12 overall record and 15th win against an OVC opponent.
 
Set 1: TTU 25, USI 21
The Screaming Eagles kicked off the first set in their OVC Tournament run in a tough-fought battle with the Golden Eagles. The two teams engaged in a back-and-forth fight to take control of the lead, but TTU managed to pull away with a three-point run to reach 15 points first. Carley Wright, who is the league’s Freshman of the Week, started her first postseason match, adding four kills to the board. OVC Freshman of the Year, Aysa Thomas, kicked off her game with 10 assists and six digs.
 
Set 2: USI 25, TTU 23
USI bounced back in the second set, keeping pressure on TTU from the service line, the Eagles were able to start breaking down the Golden Eagles’ offense. Senior Bianca Anderson took charge of the USI offense, adding four kills and a block. Junior Ashby Willis remained error less through the second set, doubling her kill count with three more. Willis also led the serve game with two aces and pushed the Eagles ahead with a six-point serving run.
 
Set 3: USI 25, TTU 22
The USI offense boasted its most efficient set of the game in the third set, hitting a .310 percent for 18 kills and five errors as a team. After going back and forth with control of the lead, Thomas put together an eight-point serving run to push the Eagles to set-point and finish out the frame. Wright had her most successful set, with seven kills, hitting a .583 percent, and added two blocks to help shut down the TTU offense. Sophomore Kerigan Fehr added her name to the digs board, picking up five.
 
Set 4: USI 25, TTU 19
USI closed out the win with a set that the squad had to fight point-to-point for control of the lead until the Screaming Eagles broke away after the media timeout at 15-14. Right side Wright added five more kills to the board, followed by Anderson with three. Thomas snuck two kills across the net, and dished six assists out. With three blocks as a team, the Eagles were able to keep the TTU offense to their least efficient set of the game.
 
For the game, the No. 3 Screaming Eagles added 61 team digs, 55 kills, eight blocks, and six aces to take down the Golden Eagles, finishing out the 2025 season two wins to one against TTU. Three USI players finished with double-digit kills, led by Wright, who tied her career-high with 18 kills. Anderson followed Wright with 12 kills, hitting a .333, the All-OVC Second Team selection remained one of the most efficient on the court. All-OVC First Team selection, Willis hit 11 kills, with just one error in the match, for a .256 hitting percentage.
 
Continuing her Freshman of the Year level performance, Thomas added her 22^nd double-double of the season with 39 assists, 20 digs, and four kills. This match marks just the second game this season that the setter has picked up 20 or more digs.
 
Sophomore Audrey Small added 21 digs to lead both sides of the net on defense. The USI block game was split between Wright, Anderson, and OVC leader in blocks, McKenzie Murphy, as they each added four block assists.