University of Evansville Athletics

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Max Langenfeld hit two pivotal 3-pointers to lead the University of Evansville men's basketball team to a 78-76 overtime win against USI on Saturday in the inaugural River City Classic at the Ford Center.
 
With UE trailing by three in the final seconds of regulation, Langenfeld tied the game with a triple before giving the Purple Aces the lead for good in overtime. He finished the game with 14 points while hitting four triples. Bryce Quinet led all players with 23 points while AJ Casey scored 19. Makuei Riek led all players with a career-high 10 boards while scoring six. USI was led by Afan Trnka's 22 points.
 
"It was a fun experience and a great atmosphere. The crowd was electric from the start. The city needed it and both schools needed it," UE head coach David Ragland said. "A lot of people made this game happen. I knew it was going to be emotional and exciting and glad both teams put on a show."
 
"I am proud to come out on the winning end of the game. Both teams responded every time they were behind, and I told our guys we just need to be one point better. We dug deep and got the job done."
 
Quinet scored 17 points in the first half, but it was USI leading for the majority of the period while taking a 35-30 lead into the break. Quinet got UE on the board two minutes in while USI came back to go up 6-2. Up 6-5, the Screaming Eagles scored seven in a row to take a 13-5 lead at the 14:17 mark. Evansville opened the game 2-for-7 from the field while turning it over four times in the first six minutes.
 
Two baskets by Quinet cut the deficit in half before a Caden Symons triple brought the Aces within one. With 7:30 remaining in the half, James Dyson-Merwe put UE in front at 16-15 and the lead for UE would reach four points at 22-18 on a Max Langenfeld triple. With the Aces in front 25-21, the Screaming Eagles finished the final 4:42 of the half on a 14-5 run to take the halftime lead.
 
Evansville opened the second half on an 11-0 run to take its largest lead at 41-35. AJ Casey hit two triples during the run. After missing their first four shots of the period, the Screaming Eagles hit a triple just over five minutes in to cut the gap in half and make it a 41-38 contest. After a 3-point play by Quinet moved the lead to 44-38, USI scored five in a row to get within one entering the final 12 minutes.
 
A triple with 10:20 left saw USI retake a 48-47 edge as the squads battled down to the wire exchanging the lead on multiple occasions. With 3:58 on the clock, a triple gave USI a 64-60 lead, but Makuei Riek came right back with a triple to cut the deficit back down to one. Just over a minute later, the Screaming Eagles hit from downtown to push the lead back to four. It remained a 67-63 game until Casey knocked down a triple with 33 ticks remaining to cut the USI lead to one. USI converted two free throws to go back up by three, but in the final seconds, Symons grabbed an offensive board and found Langenfeld who tied the game with a triple to send the game to overtime.
 
USI opened the OT scoring with a free throw before Symons hit a triple on the other end to give UE a 72-70 lead just over two minutes in. The Screaming Eagles immediately answered with a triple to regain a 1-point edge. As the extra session went into the final two minutes, Langenfeld hit a triple that put UE back on top. They would hang on from there to take the 78-76 win.
 
Evansville shot 39.1% in the contest with USI finishing at 37.9%. One impactful stat was free throw shooting as UE finished at 61.9% with USI shooting 46.7% from the line. The Screaming Eagles outrebounded the Aces by a 47-45 tally.