Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – On Wednesday, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team will be back at the Ford Center, playing host to Bradley at 7:05 p.m.

Fans are reminded that endzone seats are $5 off on Wednesday and there will be a special halftime presentation recognizing Student-Athlete Academic Achievements,
 
The Purple Aces put an abrupt half to a four-game losing streak with an 87-82 overtime win at Missouri State.  The Bears led by five points with 39 seconds remaining, but a pair of Denver Holmes three-pointers helped to send the game to overtime where the Aces never gave up the lead while pulling away for a five-point win.  In the last three road wins for UE, they have overcome double-digit digits in the second half each time.  The win marked the first for UE in Springfield since the 2003-04 campaign.
 
Entering Sunday’s game at Missouri State, junior Lewis Jones was averaging 4.8 points per game while notching just one double-digit scoring effort, that being a 12-point game against Butler.  Jones changed that in a big way against the Bears, notching a career-high 24 points.  In the first half alone, Jones eclipsed his previous career-best of 13 points.  Jones connected on 9-of-14 buckets while hitting all six free throws.  He also tied his career-high with seven rebounds.
 
Junior Troy Taylor had a stellar week for the Aces, notching a pair of double-doubles in three games.  Taylor began the week with a performance that saw him fall just three assists shy of the second triple-double in program history as he notched 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.  After recording seven points against Drake, Taylor came back with the top game of his collegiate career, posting 14 points and 14 rebounds in the win over Missouri State.  Both marked career highs for the Anderson, Ind. native.
 
With a win on Sunday at Missouri State, the Aces now have road victories against Missouri State and Northern Iowa.  It marked just the second time since entering the league that UE has picked up road wins against both schools in the same season with the other being in 1998-99 when Evansville won the regular season MVC crown.  Since entering the MVC, UE is 5-13 on the road versus Missouri State and 5-12 away from home against UNI, but since the beginning of the 2002-03 season, UE has combined to go 3-17 in road games against the two schools.
 
Colt Ryan has been an unstoppable force in MVC playing, leading all players through five games with 25.4 PPG.  The junior scored 25 points or more in each of the first four games before settling for 17 in the road contest at Indiana State.  Ryan has continued to climb the all-time UE scoring list and enters tonights game just 12 points behind current head coach Marty Simmons for 24th on the list.  Simmons scored 1,265 points in just two seasons with the Aces.
 
Bradley has struggled to a 6-13 mark in 2011-12 while going 1-6 in league play.  Taylor Brown leads the Braves with 16.8 points per game while Dyricus Simms-Edwards has scored 12.6.  Walt Lemon Jr. has chipped in an average of 12.1 PPG for the Braves.  They ended a six-game MVC losing streak on Sunday, grabbing a dominating 78-67 victory over Northern Iowa.  In an awkward game, the Braves went to halftime down by 12 (36-24) at the half, but came out firing, outscoring UNI by a 54-31 margin in the second period to grab the win.  Simms-Edwards finished with 26 while Brown had 23.  The Braves hit 22-of-27 free throws while holding UNI to 12 out of 18 from the charity stripe.
 
Evansville will continue at home this weekend as Illinois State will come to town for a 7:05 p.m. matchup on Saturday evening.