Boxscore
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Turnabout is fair play...just ask the University of Evansville men's basketball team. Five days after leading for all but the last eight seconds and then losing at Wichita State, the Aces took their only lead on Thursday at the buzzer in a dramatic 65-62 win over the Drake Bulldogs.
The Aces (13-7, 5-5 MVC) return home Saturday to face Southern Illinois at 7:05 CST at Roberts Stadium.
The game-winner came from freshman Kaylon Williams, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa native who dribbled across mid-court and let fly a 40-footer with two seconds to play. It hit the backboard just as the red lights lit up, and then fell through the basket to stun a Knapp Center crowd of 5,604.
"Shy Ely and Jason Holsinger are the guys we wanted to go to, but I thought that was the only option with the time we had left," said Williams.
Drake (14-8, 5-5) jumped ahead 20-11 thanks to 10 early points from Josh Young, and the Aces had to play catch-up the rest of the game. Down by 11 in the second half, the Aces tied the game 54-54 on two free throws by Shy Ely with 6:28 to play. Drake came right back and took a seven-point lead at 62-55 with 3:15 to play. But that's when the Aces went on a 10-0 run to finish the game, first on a Nate Garner basket, followed by a Jason Holsinger three-pointer and two James Haarsma free throws with 17 seconds remaining that tied the game at 62.
After Haarsma tied it up, Holsinger stole the ball from Drake's Craig Stanley with four seconds to go, and called time-out to set up the game-winner from Williams, who took the inbounds pass from Kavon Lacey and dribbled down the middle of the court before flinging in the winning shot.
"Our guys just kept battling, even when it didn't look good," said coach Marty Simmons. "We got big baskets and free throws from a lot of guys today."
Another Cedar Rapids, Iowa product, Nate Garner scored 20 points for the Aces, one below his career high. MVC scoring leader Shy Ely scored 18 and Haarsma added 10. Young's 12 points led the Bulldogs.
Thursday's win came about 20 hours later than expected. The game was orginally scheduled for Wednesday at 7:05, but an ice storm and snow in Evansville prevented the Aces from leaving for Des Moines until Wednesday night by bus. They came directly to the arena Thursday afternoon after spending the night in Keokuk, Iowa, and eventually produced their second series sweep of an MVC team this season. UE also beat Indiana State twice earlier this season. It's the first time since 2001-02 that Evansville has swept two MVC opponents.
