EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Three of Evansville’s seniors finished in double figures, led by Colt Ryan’s game-high of 24 as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team took down No. 23 Wichita State by a final score of 71-67 on Sunday afternoon at the Ford Center.
“We are excited, I have such respect for Gregg Marshall and their program with how hard they play, but I am proud of our team and how they hung together, it is a great win. This was the most unselfish that we played, our guys did their best to help each other,†Aces head coach Marty Simmons said. “Colt played with a lot of emotion out there today and our guys feed off of him. They really respond to him, but it definitely helps us to have our senior leadership. Our bench also played very well today.â€
Ryan connected on 9-of-19 shots for Evansville (11-6, 4-1 MVC) to lead the squad to its fourth-consecutive win. The Purple Aces are also a perfect 3-0 at home in league play this season. Troy Taylor posted a season-high 12 points, marking the third game in a row he has reached the 10-point mark. It is the first time in his career he has done so, his top stretch prior to now was a stretch of three double-digit outings in five games in his junior campaign.
“I’m happy with every win but we’re in MVC play now and every win counts,†Taylor said. “The crowd was great, we made a few plays and the crowd got loud, I give credit to them, they help us out tremendously and are like the sixth man on the court.â€
Neither team found an offensive rhythm early on as the score was 4-4 at the first timeout of the game. Wichita (15-2, 4-1 MVC) held a 4-2 edge as the teams combined to hit just two of the opening nine shots before a Ryan layup knotted the game up at 4-4. The Shockers hit their next two buckets to take an 8-4 lead before the Aces scored six in a row.
The defense of UE forced three-consecutive turnovers while Taylor hit three of his opening four attempts to take a 10-8 lead. Demetric Williams ended the stretch with a trey to put the Shockers back on top eight minutes in. Turnovers plagued the Shockers as they committed 11 while UE turned the ball over on just three occasions. WSU stayed in it thanks to a 20-10 rebounding lead in the opening stanza.
Ten lead changes and nine ties culminated in Evansville going to the break up 32-31. With two minutes remaining in the half, Malcolm Armstead, who was 6-8 in the half from the floor, knocked down his third trey to give WSU a 31-30 lead, but Egidijus Mockevicius countered with a bucket inside the final ten seconds to put the lead back in the Aces’ hands.
Out of the break, Ehimen Orukpe hit a layup to give the lead back to WSU before the Aces fought back to take a 38-37 lead on a free throw by Ned Cox. The Shockers retook the lead and would hold it for the next six minutes, leading by as many as five (50-45). Cleanthony Early led a 5-0 WSU run as they grabbed their largest edge of the game. Evansville fought back quickly with an 8-2 stretch that led to a 53-52 UE lead inside of eight minutes remaining.
D.J. Balentine, who scored just six points in the last five games entering Sunday’s contest, scored five in a row for UE as they retook the lead. With the game knotted at 56-56 with 5 minutes remaining, the Purple Aces posted their top run of the game, scoring five in a row, all tallies by Colt Ryan, to take their largest lead of the game before a 3-pointer by Cox gave UE a 64-58 edge with 1:48 left. With the lead standing at six with just over a minute left, the Shockers almost pulled off a miracle. Malcolm Armstead, who led the Shockers with 21 points, hit a layup to cut the deficit to four. On the inbound, Armstead recorded a steal as he found an open Early, who drained a three to cut the lead to one at 66-65 with 46 ticks remaining.
Evansville sunk three out of its next four free throws to open up a 69-65 advantage before it was cut to two on a Jake White bucket. The ensuing foul sent Ryan to the free throw line with 20 seconds left where he hit one out of two. Seconds later, White missed a three that would have tied the game and Lewis Jones responded on the other end, hitting a free throw that made it the final 71-67.
Wichita State shot 59.1% in the second half and 54.3% for the game while holding UE to 44.9% in the game. The top difference came in turnovers as UE forced 22 while committing just nine of its own. That led to 27 Aces points off the turnover while the Shockers notched just nine. WSU finished with a 36-21 rebounding advantage.
Aside from the performances of Ryan and Taylor, Ned Cox finished with ten points, nine of which came via the long-range shot. Mockevicius scored nine points while Balentine bounced back with eight. Armstead led WSU with 21 while Early finished the game with 16.
The Aces are a perfect 2-0 versus ranked opponents at the Ford Center. Last season, Evansville took down No. 15 Creighton 65-57 final in the first contest against a ranked team at the arena.
It is back to the road for UE as they travel to Drake for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday evening in Des Moines. The Aces return to the state of Indiana next weekend, traveling to Terre Haute on Saturday evening to take on Indiana State at 7:05 p.m. CT.
