Boxscore 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- With the game tied at 79-all and less than three seconds left on the clock, senior Kavon Lacey put in the winning shot to give the University of Evansville (5-4) men’s basketball team an 81-79 win over Middle Tennessee State (4-7) today at Roberts Stadium.

Evansville led 59-38 with 12:17 to play on Jordan Jahr's three-pointer before the Blue Raiders went on a 41-20 run to tie the game at 79 on James Gallman's three-pointer with nine seconds to play.  Lacey immediately took the inbounds pass, ran nearly the full length of the court and passed to teammate Ned Cox, who faked a shot and passed back to Lacey, who hit a 10-footer off the glass to make it 81-79 with 2.8 seconds to play.  Lacey then deflected MTSU's inbounds pass out of bounds, leaving only 0.6 seconds to play.  A desperation 50-footer by the Blue Raiders hit the backboard, and Evansville escaped with the two-point win that avenged an 82-70 loss to Middle Tennessee at Murfreesboro on Nov. 24.

"We almost called a time-out when Middle Tennessee tied it, but they picked up full-court and Kavon got some space once he got the ball," said Evansville coach Marty Simmons.  "If we had been stymied, I would have called time out.  But we got a little advantage and I just thought it was better to let our guys play.  They showed some poise in waiting for a good shot and creating it.  I'm proud of our guys.  Even though we let a big lead get away, we beat a good team."

Sophomore Colt Ryan tallied 22 points to lead the Aces. Junior Kenneth Harris followed Ryan with 13 points while tallying a game-high seven rebounds . Senior Clint Hopf added a season-best  12 points to the Aces’ total while Jahr put up 10 points on the day, just one point less than his career-high of 11. Lacey ended the day with 10 points.

Gallman led the Blue Raiders with a game-high 24 points while sophomore Jason Jones recorded a team-high six rebounds.

The Aces complete their four-game homestand with a game against Norfolk State on Thursday at 7:05.