Box Score NASHVILLE – Belmont University held a 20-point lead at the half before adding to it in the final 20 minutes on the way to an 81-43 win over the University of Evansville men's basketball team on Saturday inside the Curb Event Center.
Box Score (PDF)
Shooting 52.5%, the Bruins (1-1) led by as many as 46 in the second half. Evansville (1-2) finished at 27.5% with Shamar Givance hitting five of his seven attempts before finishing with 17 points. Jawaun Newton scored 10 points while leading the Purple Aces with six rebounds.
"Belmont is a good team who played very well today," UE head coach Todd Lickliter said. "We could not match their aggressiveness and their skill."
Four Belmont players reached double figures with Grayson Murphy hitting six out of seven field goal tries on his way to 16 points. Will Richard and Ben Sheppard scored 11 apiece while Nick Muszynski finished with 10.
Three of the opening four attempts for Belmont found the bottom of the net, giving them a 6-2 advantage out of the gate. Jawaun Newton grabbed an offensive rebound before dribbling it into the corner before knocking down a 3-pointer to get UE within one. Newton struck again with a field goal at the 13:20 mark to cut the gap to three (10-7) before the Bruins took control.
Belmont held the Aces scoreless for a span of 7:05 while scoring the next 12 points to go up 22-7. The Bruins defense held the Aces to 0-for-6 shooting while forcing four turnovers during the run. Shamar Givance ended the drought with a triple with 6:15 on the clock. Another 0-6 shooting stretch saw BU add five more to the lead, opening a 27-10 lead. With just over a minute on the clock, it was Givance connecting from downtown once again to score the Aces' 13
th point of the game.
On the ensuing two possessions, the Bruins connected from outside and would take a 34-14 lead at the break. In the second half, it was all Belmont. Over the opening five minutes of the period, the Aces kept the deficit around 20 points, trailing 42-22, but Belmont turned up the pressure. A 25-5 run made it a 67-27 game with eight minutes remaining before the Bruins took the contest by a final of 81-43.
The final rebounding tally was 41-26 in favor of the Bruins while the Aces turned it over 20 times while forcing 12 Belmont turnovers.
Evansville looks to rebounds on Tuesday when they play host to DePauw.
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