UE looks to right the ship on Wednesday at Valparaiso
University of Evansville senior Blake Simmons became the 49th player in program history to reach the 1000-point mark as the Purple Aces were defeated by Bradley, 66-53, on Saturday evening inside Carver Arena.
Simmons led UE (12-9, 2-6 MVC) with 12 points, all from long range. Ryan Taylor, who was held scoreless in the first half, finished with 10 in the second frame. Dru Smith scored nine.
“We did not get off to the start that we wanted, but our guys fought back and I give them credit,†Aces head coach Marty Simmons said. “We cut it close near the end of the first half, but Bradley had a good run to finish the half and also got off to a good start in the second half. Our guys fought back, but I do not think our decision-making was good down the stretch. It was tough, hard-fought game on both sides.â€
Four Braves (14-7, 4-4 MVC) scored double figures, led by a 17-point game from Darrell Brown. Donte Thomas notched 13 points and 12 boards.
Bradley got the early jump on the Aces, scoring the first five points of the game. K.J. Riley got UE on the board with a pair of free throws before the Braves punched right back. An and-one by Elijah Childs spearheaded a 9-0 run as the Braves capped it off with a pair of triples to open up a 14-2 advantage. Evansville missed its first four shots while Bradley opened the game at 4-for-7.
After a timeout, Blake Simmons found Dainius Chatkevicius for a layup for the Aces’ first field goal of the night. Simmons then knocked down a three a minute later to make to get UE within seven at 14-7. A 7-0 run was finished off with a Dru Smith bucket as the Aces got within five. The UE defense held Bradley to 1 of its next 8 from the field following their hot start.
A pair of BU shots saw them retake a 9-point lead at 20-11 midway through the half before Noah Frederking found Chatkevicius cutting to the basket for an and-one. Simmons hit a triple on the next trip down the floor to make it a 20-17 game and with just over five minutes remaining in the period, John Hall connected on a basket to cut the Bradley lead to just one.
The 1000th point of Simmons career was a big one as it countered the Braves 3-point possession making it a 26-25 game heading into the final four minutes of the half. From there, the Braves were able to finish the period on a 10-0 run as Donte Thomas hit a three with just five ticks remaining to send the Brave into halftime up 36-25.
Simmons milestone was the second major one to happen for UE in the last three season at Carver Arena. On February 23, 2016, Egidijus Mockevicius grabbed the 1,198th rebound of his career to break the program record, which was set by Dale Wise in 1961.
Out of the break, the Braves reeled off six in a row to open up a 42-25 lead in the first three minutes of the period. Smith got the team on the board with a layup at the 16:48 mark before Ryan Taylor got into the scoring column. The junior missed his first eight shots of the night, but he never gave up, knocking down three field goals in a row as part of a 14-2 run. Smith completed the rally with a trey to make it a 44-39 game with 12:21 on the clock.
In the following four minutes, the Braves regained the momentum, going on a 10-2 run to see their lead grow back to 13 at 54-41. Over that span, the Aces hit one of their four attempts while turning it over five times. Simmons was true from downtown once again with seven minutes left to get the Aces back within 11.
UE continued to chip away. With under five minutes remaining, a great shot by Taylor got the lead under ten before a pair of free throws by Smith got UE within six (56-50) as three minutes were on the clock. UE was unable to get any closer as the Braves offense finished the game on a 10-3 run to earn a 66-53 victory.
BU finished the game shooting 42.6% while the Aces finished at 31.6%. The rebounding statistic also went Bradley’s way by a 41-34 final.
Wednesday evening will see the Aces make their first trip to Valparaiso since the school joined the Missouri Valley Conference last year.
