Aces win 22nd game of the season
 On a day when one of the icons of University of Evansville athletics was honored, the Purple Aces men’s basketball team led wire-to-wire for the second game in a row on their way to an 83-71 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday at the Ford Center.
Jim Byers was honored with a proclamation from Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and was also given a replica of his #33 football jersey that he wore when he played at the University of Michigan.
With the win, the Purple Aces (22-7, 11-5 MVC) are tied with Illinois State for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. Southern Illinois (21-8, 10-6 MVC) is alone in fourth place.
Pacing Evansville in the win was D.J. Balentine. The senior moved alone into 5th place in MVC history with 2,371 career points. He is just three away from jumping into fourth. He led everyone with 27 points on an efficient 10-of-16 shooting day. He also had 6 assists. Jaylon Brown tied his career mark with 19 points, knocking down six shots and 7 of his 8 free throw attempts.
Egidijus Mockevicius added to his national lead with his 24th double-double of the season. He posted 11 points and 12 rebounds while Mislav Brzoja finished with 10 points. Anthony Beane notched 22 to lead the Salukis. Bola Olaniyan notched 13 points and 12 rebounds while Austin Weiher finished with 11.
“We have shown signs in the last two games of really starting to break out. When we are able to get it out in transition, that really helps us,†Aces head coach Marty Simmons said . When we’re playing our best basketball, we are sharing it and we did a great job of doing that today.â€
Evansville shot lights out in the first half as 64.5% (17/26) attempts found the bottom of the net. D.J. Balentine knocked down 6 of his 9 field goals to finish the period with 14 points. He scored one of the buckets in the early going that gave the Aces a 6-0 edge out of the gate. The Salukis got back within one on an Anthony Beane jumper, which made it a 12-11 game in favor of UE.
A 9-0 stretch, which was capped off by a Mockevicius layup, saw Evansville push its edge to double figures for the first time at 21-11 at the 12:49 mark. Southern Illinois cut the gap to seven at 23-16, but UE rallied again. Five points in a row from Blake Simmons saw UE push its lead to a game high at 34-18 with 7:20 left.
SIU found its groove as two Beane free throws brought the Salukis within six. Beane registered 14 points in the half. The Aces notched the final three tallies of the period to take a 45-36 lead to the locker room.
UE added to the lead to open the second stanza with the advantage reaching 20 points midway through the period at 64-44. A Balentine free throw helped the lead reach its largest of 70-47 with 9:12 left before Southern Illinois made a run. The Salukis posted the next ten points in a row while holding the Aces scoreless for almost three minutes.
David Howard ended that stretch with a free throw before an and-one by Brzoja put UE back up by 15 with five minutes remaining. From there, it was all Aces as they clinched the 83-71 win.
A stellar day from the floor saw the Aces shoot 54.5% while the defense did its job, holding the Salukis to 36.8%. A major difference came on points in the paint was the Purple Aces finished with a 42-22 edge in that statistic.
UE now takes to the road for the final time in the regular season, traveling to Peoria, Ill. to take on Bradley. The MVC Network will televise Tuesday’s 8 p.m. game. On Feb. 27, Evansville wraps up the regular season with a 1 p.m. game versus UNI as seniors D.J. Balentine, Egidijus Mockevicius and Adam Wing will be honored.
