Aces welcome record crowd as squad faced Wichita State

A Ford Center record crowd of 10,034 was in attendance

  A Ford Center record crowd of 10,034 people were in attendance as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team came up short against Wichita State by a final of 78-65 on Sunday afternoon.

In front of a full house, senior D.J. Balentine jumped to second on the all-time Purple Aces scoring list.  He moved past Larry Humes on the scoring list and sits with 2,253 points, just 26 away from Colt Ryan’s record.  Balentine scored a team-high 18 points on the day.  Egidijus Mockevicius notched another double-double as he recorded 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.  Mislav Brzoja also finished in double figures with 11.

“We got exposed a little bit, but we saw a lot in the first game.  We got a lot of good opportunities at the rim, especially early, but just could not convert,” UE head coach Marty Simmons said.  “I thought we really played hard, but we did not have enough big plays.”

As a team, the Aces (18-5, 7-3 MVC) shot 34.8% on the day while the Shockers (16-5, 10-0 MVC) checked in at 38.7%.  Fred VanVleet was the top scorer in the game, finishing with 32 points while converting all 15 free throw attempts.

Down 2-0, Blake Simmons got the Aces on the board with a triple.  Wichita reeled off the next six points to go up 8-3 before the Aces tied the score at 10-10 on a Jaylon Brown 3-pointer at the 12:37 mark.  Over the final 10 minutes of the period, Evansville hit just 1 of its 10 attempts as the Shockers added to their lead.

A pair of free throws in the final minute of the half by Fred VanVleet gave them their largest lead of the day at 32-21.  The success for the Shockers came in their game down low as they outrebounded UE, 26-15, in the first half while owning a 22-6 advantage in points in the paint.

After shooting 23.8% in the first half, the offensive woes continued in the opening minutes of the second half as the Aces missed their first two shots while Wichita scored the first five points of the half before Adam Wing got the Aces on the board to make it a 37-23 game.  Their lead would reach as many as 20 at 48-28 before the Aces made a run.

They would score the next eight points as Mislav Brzoja and Egidijus Mockevicius scored four apiece in the run.  Evan Wessel halted the rally with a triple to make it a 51-36 game in favor of WSU midway through the second half.  The lead for the Shockers remained in double figures for the remainder of the game as they finished off with the 78-65 triumph.

Evansville takes to the road once again, facing UNI on Wednesday evening in a 6 p.m. game.  The MVC TV Network will televise the game.