UE on the road for next two games
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JoJo McGlaston scored a game-high 24 points as Bradley earned a 74-63 win over the University of Evansville men’s basketball team on Wednesday evening at the Ford Center.
McGlaston paced BU (7-9, 2-1 MVC) with his 24 tallies where he drained 7 out of 11 attempts. Darrell Brown finished with 11. Leading the Purple Aces (10-6, 1-2 MVC) was Jaylon Brown, who went 17-of-20 from the free throw line on his way to 21 points. Ryan Taylor had 18 points while Christian Benzon had another double figure outing with 13 tallies. Brown’s 17 free throws were the most for a UE player since D.J. Balentine hit 20 in February of 2014 against Illinois State.
“We were sloppy and did not execute very well on offense,” UE head coach Marty Simmons said. “One good thing to take away is that we kept attacking and were able to get to the free throw line.”
A 3-for-3 start from the floor saw the Braves jump out to a 6-3 lead. They kept that momentum going to take a 9-3 lead as the Aces started the day 1-of-8 from the field. Evansville made its way back with a 6-0 run, tying the game for the first time at 9-9.
After Bradley took a 19-15 lead, the Aces scored five in a row to take their first lead of the game at 20-19 on a Christian Benzon free throw. Six lead changes ensued before the Braves wrestled away a 34-32 lead at the half. Jaylon Brown scored ten in the period and moved past the 1,000-point mark in his career. He became the 48th player in program history to do so. Benzon matched his 10 first-half points.
Bradley continued to lead the Aces in the opening minutes of the latter half, matching their largest lead at 44-38 inside of 13 minutes remaining. A three just seconds later gave them a 47-40 advantage before two Duane Gibson free throws with 6:24 on the clock got UE back within a possession at 58-55. From there, the Braves outscored the Purple Aces by a 16-8 margin to take the 74-63 win.
Evansville finished with a 37-35 advantage on the boards while Bradley shot 50% while holding the Aces to 23.5%. The Braves are the first team this season to hit the 50% mark against UE in 2016-17.
Over the next week, the Aces take to the road for a pair of MVC contests. The trip begins on Sunday as the Aces face Drake at 3 p.m. before heading to Springfield, Mo. to take on Missouri State Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
