Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Kenneth Harris scored 16 points while Colt Ryan added 14 to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team to a 62-55 victory over Alabama State on Tuesday at the Ford Center.
 
Harris tied for the game high with 16 points while grabbing 11 rebounds, tops in the contest.  It marked the third double-double of his career.  Ryan hit 4-11 shots and all four free throws en route to 14 points.  Ned Cox tallied double figures for the third consecutive game, scoring ten.
 
“I’m really proud of the guys, they hung in there,” head coach Marty Simmons said.  “I knew Alabama State would come out and play as hard as they did after they had ten days off.  They are physical defensively and forced us to be aggressive.  When they cut the lead to four points, I thought our guys showed a lot of poise.”
 
The Aces opened up the game with Troy Taylor and Colt Ryan notching baskets to go up 4-0.  Alabama State fought right back as Ivory White knocked down a pair of three-pointers to help the Hornets take a 7-4 advantage.
 
Alabama State kept the pressure on scoring the next three points to make it a 10-0 run following UE’s quick start.  A Denver Holmes three-pointer gave the Aces some temporary relief, but a 4-0 run saw ASU extend its lead to 14-7 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
 
Evansville found its groove in a big way, finishing the period on a 25-7 run.  UE began what would turn into a 12-0 run by forcing four Hornet turnovers.  For the half, ASU committed 11 turnovers, leading to 16 points for the Aces.  Lewis Jones hit a pair of buckets in the UE run.
 
A free throw by Taylor gave the Aces their first double digit lead of the night at 26-16 before they went into the break up by a 32-21 tally.
 
Ryan and Taylor got the second half started in the same fashion as the first, hitting baskets to give the Aces a 14-point lead.  That lead would grow to 15 as freshman Ryan Sawvell, seeing his first action since the Butler game, knocked down a shot to give UE a 49-34 lead with 11 minutes left in the game.
 
The Hornets did not give up, using a full-court press to embark on a 10-0 run.  Luther Page had four points for ASU in the run as they cut their deficit to five.  Ryan ended a drought of over four minutes for UE as he hit a jumper to give the Aces a seven-point advantage. 
 
Ivory White knocked down his fourth trey of the game with 4:21 remaining to cut the gap to five, 53-48, but Ryan responded on the ensuing trip down the floor, hitting a three of his own to put UE back up by eight.  The lead would never go below seven over the remainder of the contest as UE came away with the 62-55 win.
 
White was the leading scorer and rebounder for ASU, recording 16 points and nine boards.  Luther Page had 12 points to go along with six rebounds.  The Hornets finished with a 39-31 edge on the boards while the Aces outshot Alabama State by a 45.7%-35.1% margin.
 
On Saturday, UE will be back in action at the Ford Center, playing host to TCU as part of the Missouri Valley/Mountain West Challenge.  The Aces and Horned Frogs tip at 7:05 p.m.