For the first time in over 30 years, a Purple Aces player notched 20 rebounds as senior Egidijus Mockevicius recorded 21 to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team to a 69-57 victory over Santa Clara on the second day of the Wooden Legacy at Titan Gym
Mockevicius became the first Evansville player to haul in 20 rebounds since Richie Johnson also had 21 on Dec. 11, 1984 in a game against Western Kentucky.
“He has been doing that for us for four years,†Evansville head coach Marty Simmons said. “He has a knack and ability to go and get the ball. It was outstanding.â€
The native of Vilnius, Lithuania fell just short of a double-double as he registered 8 points, but did block a pair of shots in his 36 minutes of action. Pacing the offense was D.J. Balentine who finished the night with 23 points and 8 assists. He hit 9 of his 18 attempts and registered a pair of steals. Mislav Brzoja also had a strong night of work, scoring 16 to go along with 5 boards and four helpers. He hit all six of his shots.
“We ran the offense very well tonight,†Balentine said. “The flow of it was much better, our guys did a great job of converting.â€
Just as he did in the game against Providence, D.J. Balentine started off with the hot hand. His triple marked the first field goal of the night and gave the Aces a 4-0 lead. UE’s defense forced the Broncos into a 0-for-5 start from the floor along with two turnovers as the Aces took an 8-0 lead.
The Broncos got on the board just over five minutes into the game as Matt Hubbard knocked down a shot. After scoring 44 points in their Wooden Legacy opener versus Arizona, Jared Brownridge got warmed up as back-to-back shots fell to bring the Broncos within four at 11-7. Blake Simmons knocked down a triple in the midst of that stretch.
KJ Feagin hit a shot 12 minutes into the contest that gave the Broncos their first lead at 16-15. On the ensuing possession, Balentine hit a shot of his own to put the lead back in UE’s hands. With 1:40 left, the Aces clung to a 29-27 lead before finishing the half on an 8-2 stretch. That capped off a stretch that saw Mislav Brzoja score 10-consecutive points for the Aces. As the seconds were winding down in the period, Balentine hit his fourth bucket of the game to send the Aces to the locker room up 37-29. Brzoja led the Aces with 12 points in the half while Balentine had 11.
Evansville took its largest lead as a teardrop shot from Balentine was true in the opening minute of the second half, but a 2-for-10 stretch saw the Broncos roar back and get within four at 47-43 with 12 minutes remaining. Evansville maintained a 7-point lead with 7:15 remaining, up 54-47. Over the next four minutes, a 7-0 stretch saw UE takes its largest lead of the night at 14 points. The advantage would later grow to 16 in the final two minutes as a Jaylon Brown layup was the dagger before the Aces were able to finish with the 69-57 triumph.
Led by Brzoja’s 6-6 shooting performance, the Aces finished the night at 47.1%. The Broncos shot 40.7%. Just a day after registering 44 points, Jared Brownridge was held in check by UE as he was 6-for-17 from the floor for 19 points. Nate Kratch checked in with 10.
With the victory, the Aces will play UC Irvine in the 5th place game on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. PT, 1:30 p.m. CT at the Honda Center. It will be carried live on ESPNU, the WatchESPN app and fans can tune in for live coverage on 91.5 WUEV.
