Aces To Play Final Regular Season Game Tomorrow
For the final time in the regular season, University of Evansville seniors D.J. Balentine, Egidijus Mockevicius and Adam Wing will take to the Ford Center floor as they are set to wrap up the season looking for their 24th victory of the season when they face UNI on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The first 5,000 fans will receive a commemorative Senior Day print courtesy of ARC Construction Company. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats early as Senior Day ceremonies will begin roughly 15 minutes before the game. Following the contest, the trio along with head coach Marty Simmons, will address the crowd.
A great crowd is expected as the lower bowl of the Ford Center is sold out and upper bowl seating is now available. Walk-up tickets will be available until game time or online at Ticketmaster.com.
The regular season comes to an end as the Purple Aces wrap it up with a huge game against UNI. Evansville is guaranteed to be either the #2 or 3 seed in the MVC as the squad heads to Arch Madness; the Aces are tied with Illinois State and an ISU loss and UE win on Saturday would guarantee UE the second seed. Should the schools be tied following the regular season, the tiebreaker will come down to whoever has the higher RPI according to Jim Sukup’s RPI Report on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 28.
UE picked up its 23rd victory of the season, taking a 67-55 win at Bradley on Tuesday evening. It was the duo of D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius leading the way; Balentine totaled 22 points, hitting the 20-point mark for the third game in a row. Mockevicius notched his 8th double-double in a row and NCAA-leading 25th of the season, finishing with 20 points and 17 rebounds. He officially broke the program mark for rebounds in the win and is the first in program history to notch 1,200 in his career; he currently has 1,202 in his career.
Saturday will be the final home game for a senior class that includes: D.J. Balentine, Egidijus Mockevicius and Adam Wing. The three have led the Aces to 20+ wins in three of their four years with the program, something not done by a senior class at UE since 1994. Head coach Marty Simmons has led UE to Senior Day wins in seven of the last eight years.
UNI begins Saturday with a record of 18-12 and 10-7 in the Valley, they are guaranteed the #4 or 5 seed heading into Arch Madness. The Panthers are coming off of a dominant 66-44 win over Indiana State in their home finale on Wednesday as seniors Wes Washpun and Matt Bohannon led the way. Washpun totaled a game-high 16 points while Bohannon had 14 points and 7 rebounds; he also knocked down four three-pointers as UNI shot 45.3% and held the Sycamores to just 27.3% shooting. Overall, Washpun leads UNI with 14.1 points per game and a conference-leading total of 163 assists. Bohannon checks in with 12.5 PPG and is one of the top outside shooters in the league, hitting 42.9% of his long range attempts.
