UE-Oakland City Box Score (PDF)

Marty Simmons got a standing ovation Saturday night in his head coaching debut at the University of Evansville, and hopefully the result will be the same when the Aces' men's basketball team begins the season for real.  That takes place Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2:35 cst when UE hosts Samford University of the Ohio Valley Conference.  Samford has three starters returning from last season's 16-16 team.  Evansville won at Samford 69-65 in the ESPN Bracketbusters game in February.

Evansville held Oakland City University to 18 second half points Saturday night in the Aces' 82-43 exhibition game victory.  It was the first time for Simmons coaching for the University of Evansville since he was the Aces' assistant coach in 2001-02.  Simmons led UE to the NIT as a player in the 1980s, and was an assistant coach on four post-season tournament teams at Evansville in the 1990s.  He has spent the past five years as head coach at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

"Overall, our guys did a good job, but I see a lot of room for improvement," Simmons said after Saturday's win.  

The Aces connected on 35 of their 59 shots for 59 percent shooting, and held the Mighty Oaks to 33 percent shooting (15 for 45).  The team's lone senior, forward Victor Gomez, played sparingly last season, but he scored a team-high 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Saturday.  Freshman center Pieter van Tongeren hit six of seven shots and scored 12 points.  Veterans Shy Ely and Jason Holsinger scored 11 points each.  Newcomers Kavon Lacey (9) and Nate Garner (8) and veterans Jay Couisnard (7) and Darin Granger (7) added to UE's balanced scoring.

"A lot of guys brought energy into the lineup," Simmons said.  "Jason set the tone defensively, and players like Kavon, Nate and Darin came off the bench and kept the energy level up.  I'm really happy with the effort our guys have given since the start of practice.  Tonight was a reflection of that."