Boxscore

One look at the halftime boxscore told the University of Evansville's players what they had to do.  And they did.  After Austin Peay shot 61 percent in the first half, the Purple Aces held the Governors to just 29 percent shooting in the second half as the Aces won their season opener on Saturday at Roberts Stadium, 70-62.

Evansville outscored Austin Peay 36-25 in the second half, and held the Govs scoreless for eight minutes and 34 seconds.  That stretch began with Austin Peay leading 41-36 early in the second half, and ended with Evansville up 53-41 with less than nine minutes to play.

"We challenged our guys after they (APSU) shot 61 percent in the first half," said Evansville coach Marty Simmons.  "You have to get stops in order to be a good team.  I was very pleased with our effort tonight.  We missed 127 block-outs in our first exhibition game.  We worked hard on that, and we did pretty good tonight on the glass.  I'm proud of them, but we still have a long way to go."

'Pretty good' on the glass came out to a 38-25 rebounding advantage for Evansville, and that led to the Aces taking eight more shots (55-47) than the Govs.  A game-high 10 rebounds belonged to senior forward Shy Ely, who also scored 23 points for his first career double-double.

"I thought the difference in the game was our guys contesting shots, blocking out and getting a hand on the ball," said Ely.  "There were 12 straight possessions where we got stops.  You have to do that against quality teams like Austin Peay."

Defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Austin Peay cut a 13-point Evansville lead at 56-43 to five on two occasions in the final three minutes, but a thunderous dunk by Ely began a 5-0 run by the Aces in the final minute to clinch the win.  Jason Holsinger scored Evansville's first seven points and finished second in scoring with 14.  Nate Garner added nine points and eight rebounds, and freshmen James Haarsma (9) and Kaylon Williams (5) gave the Aces quality minutes in their collegiate debuts.

Austin Peay was led by sophomore guard Caleb Brown with 20 points.  Drake Reed, 2007 OVC Player of the Year, added 13 for the 0-1 Govs.

Evansville is back home Tuesday to play Oakland City University at 7:05 cst.