Evansville is back home Sunday to face Wichita State
 CARBONDALE, Ill. – One of the most exciting games in recent memory took place at SIU Arena as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team staged a late comeback in regulation before earning an 85-78 overtime win over Southern Illinois on Thursday evening.
Trailing by seven inside of four minutes remaining, Evansville (18-4, 7-2 MVC) fought its way back. Mislav Brzoja, who set his career mark with 25 points, nailed a three to tie it up in the final minute. After Southern Illinois (18-4, 7-2 MVC) hit a triple with six seconds left, UE had one last chance to send it to overtime. The Aces called two time outs to set up a last-second play. D.J. Balentine made it count, nailing a triple with a second left to send it to overtime. In the extra session, the Aces outscored the Salukis, 14-7, to take the win.
“This was a great game, both teams deserved to win,†head coach Marty Simmons said. “What makes tonight feel good is that SIU is a really good team and this is such a hard place to play. Winning in this league is extremely difficult.â€
Balentine matched Brzoja’s team-high of 25 tallies. He drilled two buzzer beaters in the game, including the most important one that sent the game to OT.
“To come out with a win is great for us,†Balentine said. “We knew that we had two timeouts left and we were able to set up that last play. I did not have much room on that play, but we do it every day in practice and I knew it was good when I let it go.â€
Jaylon Brown finished with 15 points for UE while Egidijus Mockevicius had 10 points and a game-high 8 rebounds. The Aces shot 55.4% on the night while holding SIU to 44.8%. The Salukis finished with a 39-26 edge in rebounding.
Anthony Beane hit 10 shots to scored 30 points while Sean O’Brien finished with 16.
For the second game in a row, the Aces got off to a slow start as the Salukis opened up a 7-2 advantage in the opening minutes. Evansville came back to score the next four points before SIU scored seven in a row, including a trey by Anthony Beane, to go up 14-6. Their lead reached double figures for the first time at 18-7 before Mislav Brzoja countered on the next possession with a triple.
Midway through the half, SIU took their largest lead of 13 points at 27-14. Evansville was able finish the half on an 18-8 run to trail by just three points at the half. D.J. Balentine capped off the period with a triple, marking his 11th point of the half. His bucket at the buzzer sent UE to the locker room down 35-32.
Egidijus Mockevicius dunked it on the first possession of the second half before a Balentine triple tied it up at 37-37. A 13-5 run saw the Salukis go back up by 8 with just over 14 minutes left at 50-42 before UE scored 11 in a row to take its first lead of the game. Back-to-back 3-point possessions by Brzoja started the run before Jaylon Brown capped it off with a triple.
Southern Illinois would retake the lead and push that advantage to seven points at 66-59 with 3:31 remaining. Evansville cut the gap to one, converting on three baskets in a row to make it a 66-65 contest under the 2-minute mark.
Down 68-65 with under a minute remaining, Brzoja got the job done once again, nailing another triple but on the ensuing play, Leo Vincent hit a three to put SIU back on top. An interesting sequence took place in the last six seconds. Purple Aces head coach Marty Simmons called consecutive time outs as the Aces inbounded the ball to get it on UE’s side of the floor.
In the last time out, Simmons set up Balentine for what would be the game-tying trey as the game went to overtime tied at 71-71.
Adam Wing opened the extra session with a long two. After Sean O’Brien put the Salukis back on top with a three, Brzoja tied his career mark with 21 points as his triple gave the Aces a 76-74 lead. The lead pushed to five points with under two minutes left as Brzoja hit a free throw to make it a 79-74 game. SIU got within one at 79-78 on a Beane triple before Balentine hit a huge layup to make it an 81-78 game with under a minute left.
Following an SIU miss, Jaylon Brown was fouled with the Aces clinging to the 3-point edge and calmly hit both free throws to go up 83-78. Balentine added two free throws for the final score of 85-78.
“This team has great character,†Brzoja said. “We never gave up, this was a great team win.â€
Evansville has now won three in a row in Carbondale, marking the first time doing so since 1996-98.
Next up for UE is Sunday’s home contest against Wichita State. The Aces welcome the Shockers into town for a 3 p.m. game that will be televised on ESPNU.
