EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In a back-and-forth thriller at the Ford Center, the University of Evansville men's basketball team held on for a 71-68 overtime win on Monday evening.
 
K.J. Riley and Artur Labinowicz led UE with 14 points with DeAndre Williams finishing with 11.  Riley was 9-of-10 from the line in the contest and led everyone with three steals.  Williams along with Sam Cunliffe recorded a team-best seven boards.  As a team, the Purple Aces went to the free throw line 36 times, converting on 26 of those attempts.

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Box Score (PDF)

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"It was a great game.  USI is a great team, they fought hard and deserved to win that basketball game," Aces head coach Walter McCarty said. "I did not think our guys would play selfish from the start; they normally do not play like that.  It is going to be a great film session; hopefully our guys accept some coaching and we can move on."
 
USI saw Emmanuel Little finish with a stellar evening, registering 20 points and 11 rebounds.  Clayton Hughes added 11 tallies.
 
"This is a learning experience and we know we need to get better," sophomore Jawaun Newton said after finishing with eight points.  "We fought and had our backs against the wall, we really overcame some adversity."
 
Both teams had trouble finding their rhythm in the early moments as UE led by a 3-2 score five minutes into the contest.  The Aces wrestled away a 12-6 led just over seven minutes into the game when Sam Cunliffe hit a jumper in the paint.  The lead for Evansville reached as many as eight points just past the midway point of the half when a Jawaun Newton layup pushed the Aces lead to 21-13.
 
Over the final moments of the half, the Screaming Eagles chipped away into the deficit.  Trailing by three in the final minute, USI rallied back to tie it up heading into the break.  Clayton Hughes finished the period with a dunk at the buzzer that made it a 29-29 game.
 
Artur Labinowicz got UE started in the second half with a triple in the opening minute.  USI responded with a trey just seconds later before a free throw gave them their first lead of the game at 33-32.  Just over three minutes into the second half, K.J. Riley was true from outside to put Evansville back on top.  His bucket set the Aces on an 8-0 spurt as Labinowicz added a field goal before Cunliffe drained a three to push the lead to 40-33. 
 
A resilient Screaming Eagles squad did not go away quietly and eventually were able to tie the game at 44-44 with 9:12 remaining.  Evansville notched five in a row to retake a two possession lead, but USI came back once again.  With 5:17 on the clock, Chance Coyle scored off a turnover to give them a 54-53 lead. 
 
The back-and-forth contest continued into the final minute with the Aces holding a lead of 58-57.  Two free throws by USI put them in front, but Shamar Givance hit a free throw with two ticks on the clock that helped to force overtime.
 
Despite the Screaming Eagles scoring first, UE retook control thanks to some excellent free throw shooting.  Cunliffe and Riley combined to hit six free throws in a row to give the Aces a 65-61 edge.  USI rallied back with four of their own to knot the score once again as the clock reached two minutes, but UE notched the next four to go back up by a 69-65 tally.
 
USI cut the deficit to one on a jumper with 51 ticks remaining, but the clincher came off the hands of Noah Frederking.  His floater with 22 seconds left finalized the 71-68 score.
 
For the game, the Aces were held to 32.8% shooting, but their free throw efforts of 72.2% lifted them to the win.  USI shot 42.9% for the game.  Both squads finished with 41 rebounds.
 
The exciting exhibition game saw a total of 6,263 fans in attendance. 
 
"This was one of the most exciting games we have had at the Ford Center, the crowd was great and we really fed off of it tonight," Newton commented.
 
UE now has 12 days to prepare for their season opener against Ball State, which is set for Saturday, November 9 at the Ford Center.
 

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