Aces fall to Notre Dame in non-conference finale
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Connor Turnbull and Josh Hughes combined to score 31 points on Saturday as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team dropped an 82-58 game to Notre Dame inside Purcell Pavilion.
Reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week Turnbull led UE with 17 points, 9 boards, and 4 blocks. Hughes returned to form, scoring 14 points while hitting four triples. It ended a stretch of four games without reaching double figures. The Fighting Irish were led by Braeden Shrewsberry who registered a game-high 26 points. Sir Mohammed wrapped up the day with 21.
“I thought we played a good 28 minutes of basketball today but let a few uncontrollable things get the better of us during the other stretches,” UE head coach David Ragland explained. “Overall, the final score was not indicative of how competitive the game was. There are some areas we need to fix as we head into conference play.”
Notre Dame scored the opening eight points of the day converting three of their first four attempts. Evansville missed its first two tries while turning it over twice before a 3-pointer by Leif Moeller got UE on the board. It marked the first of eight in a row by the Purple Aces. Connor Turnbull connected on a jumper while Alex Hemenway hit from downtown to tie the score at the 15:31 mark.
Nearly six minutes into the game a layup from AJ Casey gave UE its first lead at 12-10. The Fighting Irish countered with 11 in a row to go up 21-12 with 11:22 left in the period with a Turnbull triple getting UE back on track. UE would get within five points (26-21) until a late stretch by Notre Dame gave them their largest lead of 15 points – 41-26 – inside the final minute.
Josh Hughes drained his third triple of the game to make it a 41-29 game at the break. He led UE with nine points in the half while Braeden Shrewsberry registered 17 in the stanza, knocking down five of his six 3-point tries.
The eighth triple of the afternoon by the Irish matched their largest lead to open the second-half scoring. Triples from Keishon Porter and Hughes helped the Aces get back within nine points, however, a pair of jumpers by Jalen Haraison set the Irish up with a 52-40 lead with 14:46 remaining in the game.
Over the next three minutes, Evansville made its way right back into it as Turnbull scored seven in a row on his own converting two layups and three free throws. Porter added a pair of free throws to cap the 9-0 stretch and make it a one-possession game at 52-49. It did not take long for Notre Dame to respond. It took less than two minutes for them to post nine in a row to retake a 12-point lead.
Trent Hundley went coast-to-coast to end the stretch, but the Fighting Irish came right back with an 8-0 run to open a 69-51 lead at the 7:21 mark. Inside of five minutes remaining, a pair of triples put the Irish up 78-53. From there, they would go on to win by a final score of 82-58. Casey and Porter finished with nine points apiece for UE, who shot 39.6% on the day. Notre Dame finished at 47.5% and outrebounded the Aces by a 38-32 tally.
Evansville returns home to open MVC play on Tuesday against Belmont before facing Drake on Dec. 21 inside the Ford Center. Fans are reminded that Tuesday’s game will be a 6 p.m. tip.
