ST. LOUIS – AJ Casey recorded his third double-double of the season to pace the University of Evansville men's basketball team in a 68-59 setback to sixth-seeded Northern Iowa in Thursday's Arch Madness match-up at the Enterprise Center.
Box Score
"It was a hard-fought game. UNI did a good job of setting the tone and punching us in the mouth, but our guys responded the right way and took the lead at halftime," UE head men's basketball coach David Ragland said. "With 12 minutes to go, I felt like we were in a good spot with how we were getting into the paint and getting fouled. Credit UNI – they knocked down some huge shots. I am proud of our fight but it was just not enough this evening."
Casey recorded 23 points and 10 rebounds in the contest while adding three assists. Leif Moeller finished the night with 15 points while Trent Hundley tallied 14. Leading the way for UNI was Trey Campbell who matched Casey for the top scoring mark in the game at 23.
UNI opened the night with a 3-0 lead while Leif Moeller tied it up on a triple. The Panthers countered with nine in a row to open a 12-3 advantage as Trey Campbell finished the run with a 3-pointer. The Panthers hit five of their opening eight attempts while the Aces started the game 1-of-5 from the floor.
Trent Hundley knocked down a trey while Moeller followed with a basket to get UE back within four. As the half approached its midway point, the Panthers completed an 8-0 stretch to open a 20-8 lead as they converted three field goals in a row. With UNI up 23-11 with 9:20 remaining in the period the Aces made a run with a 7-1 stretch. Hundley added his second triple of the night during the rally.
Trailing 26-18 with 7:10 on the clock, Evansville used the next two minutes to make it a 1-possession game. Following a basket by AJ Casey, Hundley converted a 4-point play to make it a 26-24 game. Will Hornseth got UNI back on track with a 3-point play before Alex Hemenway got things going. He hauled in an offensive board and turned that into a triple with 4:13 remaining before his field goal with the shot clock winding down tied the game at 29-29 with 2:16 left.
After a quick 4-0 spurt by Northern Iowa, Casey converted four free throws to knot the score inside the final minute. UE regained possession with 0.6 remaining with Hundley inbounding the ball. He found AJ Casey who drained a triple at the buzzer to give UE its first lead heading into the break at 36-35.
Out of the break, UNI converted three of its opening four attempts to regain a 41-36 lead. Buckets from Josh Hughes and Moeller made it a 1-point game four minutes in, but a Trey Campbell triple put UNI back up by four. Over the ensuing stretch, the Panthers held the Aces to 1-of-7 from the floor as they went back up by six points at 55-49. Hundley's fourth trey of the contest cut the deficit in half as the Panthers entered the final eight minutes with a 55-52 lead.
With 2:53 remaining, Casey's turnaround jumper cut the gap to three at 59-56. That is when the defensive of UNI took over. The Panthers finished the game on a 9-3 run to take the victory. The defensive battle saw UNI shoot 38.3% with UE finishing the night at 37.3%; UNI had a slight 37-36 rebounding advantage.
