Boxscore

A slow start for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team turned into a strong finish Friday night as the Purple Aces outscored visiting Alabama State 9-4 in the final three minutes to pull out a 61-57 victory at Roberts Stadium.

Freshman Colt Ryan totaled 17 points to lead UE while going a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Sophomore James Haarsma added 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Sophomore Denver Holmes finished the night with eight points, including a steal and a layup with 2:00 to play to give the Aces the lead for good at 56-54.  Following an offensive foul on ASU's Byron Walker, Haarsma converted on a driving layup to put Evansville up by four with 1:01 left at 58-54.  Chris Duncan cut the margin to one with a three-pointer for the Hornets, but two free throws by Haarsma with 15 seconds to go, a missed three-pointer by ASU, and a free throw by Clint Hopf sealed the win for 4-2 UE.  Alabama State is now 1-5.

Evansville committed 25 turnovers but the Aces made up for it on the boards with 42 rebounds to Alabama State's 23.  The Aces also hit 27 of 38 free throws.

"We had way too many turnovers, but we also had guys play well down the stretch and hit big buckets and grab big rebounds when we needed them," said Coach Marty Simmons.

Tied 29-29 at halftime, the Aces came out of the locker room to go up 35-31 with a 5-0 scoring spree. With UE ahead 43-40, the Hornets’ Sekani Milligen hit two three pointers on the way to Alabama State pulling ahead 46-45. In fact, neither team led by more than three points during the final 15 minutes until Holmes and Haarsma hit their back to back shots in the final two minutes to give Evansville a 58-54 lead that they never relinquished
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The Aces travel to Bowling Green, Ky., on Tuesday to play Western Kentucky at 7:05 p.m.