Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Lewis Jones scored a career-high 24 points as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team picked up an 87-82 overtime win at Missouri State on Sunday afternoon at JQH Arena.
 
Jones hit 9-of-14 shots and all six free throws to lead the Aces (8-9, 3-4 MVC) to the win.  Jones was one of four players in double figures as Colt Ryan finished the game with 22 points, Denver Holmes notched 16 and Troy Taylor had a career-high of 14.  Taylor hauled in a career-high 14 rebounds on his way to his second double-double in three games.
 
“I think we were a little due, things just needed to go our way,” head coach Marty Simmons said. 
“To beat good teams on the road, you need to make things happen.  It was a team effort, Taylor was outstanding while Colt and Lewis did some great things.”
 
The Aces got on the board first as Troy Taylor notched a steal and would hit the ensuing shot on the first possession.  Colt Ryan scored five early points as UE opened up a 7-4 lead, but Missouri State came right back, hitting five of their first seven shots to go up 13-7.  Kyle Weems had six points in two possessions before Nathan Scheer connected on a trey.
 
Later in the period, the Bears would go up by as many as ten points, taking a 33-23 lead six minutes left in the half, but the Aces rallied behind Lewis Jones, who recorded a career-high of 14 points in the first half.  Jones scored ten-straight UE points to bring Evansville back within a possession, 38-35, with just over two minutes left in the half before UE went into the break down 42-38.
 
Jarmar Gulley helped MSU open up the second half on an 11-4 run to take their largest lead of the game to that point, 53-42.  Gulley hit three shots in a row before the run was capped off by a Keith Pickens three-pointer.  Also complicating things for the Aces was the fact that Colt Ryan picked up his third foul of the contest just over a minute into the period.
 
Another rally brought the Aces deficit down to just six with just over ten minutes left, but MSU’s next answer came in the form of Anthony Downing, who tallied nine-consecutive points for the Bears as their lead grew to 12 over the next two minutes of play. 
 
With MSU up 67-56, Evansville made another push, scoring nine points in a row, including five by Ryan, to get back within a possession at 67-65.  As was the case with the other Aces runs in the contest, the Bears were able to sustain the pressure and pull away.  On the ensuing possession, Caleb Patterson used his size advantage to draw a foul on a made bucket, which led to five-straight points for the Bears, who extended their advantage back to seven points with four minutes left in the game.
 
In a contest that featured countless rallies by each squad, the Aces showed their grit once again, reeling off the next four points to make it a one-possession game before a pair of missed three-pointers helped MSU knock down a pair of free throws to make it a 5-point game with 39 seconds left.  A Denver Holmes trey cut the deficit to just a pair with 30 seconds left before a foul sent Anthony Downing to the line.  He made 1-of-2 attempts setting MSU’s advantage at 75-72.
 
Holmes was clutch once again knocking home his second three in a span of 15 seconds to knot the game at 75-75.  Missouri State missed its chance for the win in the final seconds, sending the match to overtime.
 
Evansville opened up the extra stanza on a 6-2 run as they opened up an 81-77 lead, their largest of the game.  A pair of Taylor free throws capped off the run with just over three minutes left.  The Aces would later find themselves up by five points, 85-80, with just over a minute left before a Scheer jumper got MSU back within three.  Following a missed jumper by Ned Cox inside of 20 seconds left, Patterson missed a three-pointer giving the ball back to UE where Ryan sealed the victory with a pair of free throws.
 
The Aces owned a slight 45.3%-43.9% edge in shooting while the Bears finished with a 39-35 edge on the boards.
 
Five Bears finished in double figures, led by Weems’ 17-point performance.
 
A pair of home games await the Aces this week as they will face Bradley on Wednesday before playing Illinois State on Saturday at the Ford Center.  Both games are set for 7:05 p.m. tips.