Evansville, Indiana – Yashin Toumi had 8 of his 16 field goal attempts Wednesday night as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team lost to Indiana State University by a final score of 83-65 at Ford Wednesday night. He scored a career-high 19 points. center.
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Toumi’s performance surpassed the previous high score of 18 made against Campbell and Valparaiso. Kenny Strowbridge, Jr. scored his 17, while Antoine Smith, Jr. and Marvin Coleman II each scored eight. Indiana State led Cooper-Nice with his 19 points his game, Courvoisier his Macquarie scored his 18 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds.
“We had a better start tonight. Indiana State is a great team and I knew they would respond. We just finished the first half,” Purple Aces head coach David Ragland said after the game. “We were able to come out of transition in the second half and build a double-digit lead that was difficult to overcome.”
An exciting first half featured big runs by both teams. Evansville led 12–2 with four minutes into the game as he connected for five shots in a row. After Sycamore took his 2–0 lead, Yacine Toumi hit a jumper to equalize. After Antoine Smith Jr. hit a triple, Gage Bobe and Kenny Strawbridge Jr. added buckets to push his lead to 9-2. Marvin Coleman II closed out the run with a triple for Indiana State to force a timeout.
Following the interruption, Indiana State ran out five baskets and went 16-12 in less than three minutes. Three triples and a three-point play kicked off the run as the ISU went up 16-12. Tomi stopped Sycamore’s run, but they kept the pressure on, pushing their lead to 14 points (37-23) with 3:44 left in the period.
Evansville refused to back down and regained momentum in the final minutes with Strawbridge leading by a 13–0 run. He started the rally with two free throws and knocked down three two-point shots to make it a 37-33 game at the 1:17 mark. A few seconds passed and UE had the ball again and his Strawbridge fired his 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded to cut Indiana State’s lead to his 37-36. Evansville hit five of their last six attempts in the second half, and the ISU’s last six possessions included three missed shots and three turnovers.
Bove started the second half with a triple to tie the game 39–39, but it was another ISU run that pushed the lead back to double digits. At 42-41, the ISU knocked down his four field goals in a row to open up a 52-41 edge. Antoine Smith Jr. finished the stretch with his goal in his second field of the night and with 14:19 remaining he put UE down with his 52-46 to bring him back within six. hit three frees on his throws.
Indiana State University didn’t let Ace get any closer. Another of his three points by McCauley was the start of a 20-7 run, giving the ISU their biggest lead at 72-53 with 6:17 on the clock. Evansville closed the gap to 12 points in the final minutes before Sycamore won the game with a final score of 83-65.
Highlighted by a 57.7% shooting performance in the second half, ISU completed the game with 53.8%. UE he shot 41.8%. Sycamores ended the night with a 35-27 advantage on the board.Aces are next for a road game on Saturday at the UIC with chips set at 1pm