Boxscore

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- All five Butler University starters here Saturday night were seniors. The University of Evansville's only senior won't play until late December because of a foot injury. That difference in experience showed up eventually as the Bulldogs, ranked number 25 nationally this week by AP, came back from Evansville's quick start to beat the Aces 60-47 in front of 6,407 fans at Roberts Stadium.

Evansville jumped ahead 6-0 and still led 28-27 in the final two minutes of the first half on Jason Holsinger's layup, but Butler used A.J. Graves' 14 points in the first half to take a 31-28 lead at the break. The Bulldogs quickly jumped ahead by nine points at 41-32 in the first six minutes of the second half and never let Evansville get closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Graves led the 3-0 Bulldogs in scoring with 22 points while Holsinger (16) and freshman center Pieter van Tongeren (10) led the 0-2 Aces. 

"We did some things well, but when we failed to execute, Butler took advantage of us," said UE first year coach Marty Simmons.  "One thing we have to learn about our motion offense is executing for the entire possession, not just one or two passes or 10 or 15 seconds.  Our program is in a period of transition, and there are lot of things we need to improve on, but our guys are playing hard every day.  They have the desire, and that's why they'll keep getting better."

There's not much time for the Aces to prepare for game three.  They play their first road game Tuesday at Southeast Missouri at 7:30 cst.  The game will be broadcast by the UE Radio Network--WUEV in Evansville (91.5 FM), WSJD in Mt. Carmel, Ill. (100.5 FM) and WNTC in Madisonville, Ky. (103.9 FM).