The University of Evansville men’s basketball team looks for a 2-0 start to its Missouri Valley Conference schedule with a trip to Missouri State for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing by eight points at the half, Evansville scored the first nine points of the second half before pulling away for a 70-62 victory over Indiana State on Wednesday.  Senior D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius posted 22 points apiece.  Mockevicius notched his 12th double-double of the season as he grabbed 16 boards; Balentine had his best effort on the glass, finishing with a career-high of 9 caroms.

Balentine’s tally put him into third place on the all-time scoring list for the Purple Aces.  His total stands at 2,070 in his career and he moved past Marcus Wilson’s final career total of 2,053.  For Mockevicius, he stands with 979 career rebounds and is two away from tying Ed Smallwood for third place in the Aces’ record book.  His 22-point effort was his first career conference game recording at least 20 points.

The Bears enter Saturday’s game with a record of 4-9 after falling by a final of 74-61 in their league opener at Illinois State.  Highlighting the season for Missouri State has been a victory at Oklahoma State on Dec. 5 as the Bears edged the Cowboys, 64-63.  Camyn Boone is the leading scorer and rebounder for MSU; Boone has recorded 13 points per game while grabbing 6.8 boards, he had a team-best 8 rebounds in the MVC opener.  Second on the squad in scoring is Dequon Miller with 12 PPG; he tied for the game high of 17 points last time out.

Quad City splits midweek home-and-home series with IceMen to wrap up 2015.)

  

Records:  Evansville: 12-15-2-0; Quad City: 16-13-1-2

Goalies:   QC – Michalek (W), 9-6-1-2, 32 saves

 EVN – Zenzola (L), 2-2-0-0, 23 saves

Scoring:

1^st Period: 1. QC – Collins 2 (Coldwell, Nikiforov, 7:16); 2. QC – Carey 4 (PP, Coldwell, Brassart, 18:00)

2^nd Period:  3. EVN – Wideman 5 (Trebish, 2:17); 4. EVN – Guptill 7 (Dunn, Leveille, 6:22); 5. EVN – Dunn 5 (Guptill, Rumble, 7:44); 6. QC – Tesink 3 (Coldwell, Archambault, 10:45); 7. Nikiforov 4 (Monfredo, 14:17)

3^rd Period:  8. QC – Brassart 1 (Nikiforov, Gudbranson, 11:20); 9. QC – Carey 5 (EN, unassisted, 17:58); 10. EVN – Duco 4 (Rumble, 18:11)

EVANSVILLE, IN – The Evansville IceMen finished off 2015 with their first winning month since October 2014. However, New Years Eve belonged to the Quad City Mallards, who defeated the IceMen 6-4 Thursday in front of 7,688 fans at the Ford Center. The IceMen finished December with a 6-5-2 record.

Quad City notched the game’s first goal, when Anthony Collins finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play at 7:16 on a deflection over IceMen goalie Matt Zenzola. The Mallards received three power plays in the first period and converted on the third one. Matt Carey picked up a loose puck from a blocked shot and buried the rebound into a wide open net to give Quad City a 2-0 lead.

The IceMen outshot the Mallards 14-12 in the first period, but trailed by a pair of goals. Evansville was penalized eight times for 27 minutes in the frame.

A flurry of three goals in the first eight minutes of the second period sprung the IceMen into the lead. Alex Wideman ripped a wrist shot past the glove of Quad City goalie Steve Michalek 2:17 into the period. Alex Guptill then feathered a backhander off of Michalek and into the net to tie the game. 1:22 after the goal, Guptill set up Vincent Dunn for a one-timer from the right circle to put the IceMen in front 3-2.

Later in the stanza, the Mallards tied the score when Ryan Tesink deflected an Austin Coldwell point shot past Zenzola at 10:45. It was Coldwell’s third assist of the night. Quad City jumped back in front at 14:17 of the period, when Vladimir Nikiforov snuck behind the Evansville defense and snapped a shot into the net from the right circle.

The Mallards opened their lead to two goals when Brady Brassart scored his first ECHL goal on a centering pass to the edge of the crease at 11:20. An empty net goal by Carey put the game out of reach with just over two minutes left.

Mike Duco provided a garbage-time goal for the IceMen, but it was too little, too late. The Mallards snapped out of a four-game skid, and prevented Evansville from its first three-game winning streak. Michalek made 32 saves in the win, while Zenzola stopped 23 shots in the loss.

The IceMen next host Missouri Saturday, January 2 at 7:15pm to begin 2016. Evansville then welcomes Wichita Sunday, January 3 at 5:15pm to wrap up four games in five days.