Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Junior Colt Ryan tied his season high with 31 points, but Garrett Stutz countered with 29 of his own to lead Wichita State to a 67-66 win over the University of Evansville men’s basketball team Wednesday evening at the Ford Center.
 
Ryan was 10-18 from the floor and hit five three-pointers.  The Batesville, Ind. native also dished out five assists while tying for the team high with five boards.  Kenneth Harris was the other Ace in double figures with 15 points.
 
"They are a good team, we were just a step late defensively all night,” head coach Marty Simmons said.  “We never seemed to have a rhythm during the game; Wichita State is just a very good team.”
 
The first half featured 10 lead changes before Wichita State (11-3, 2-1 MVC) took a lead of ten points late in the half.  The Aces (7-6, 2-1 MVC) had the upper hand early, going up 9-6, but the Shockers came right back with seven-straight of their own to go up 13-9. 
 
Evansville came back to take what would be their largest edge of the game at four points (20-16) when Colt Ryan knocked down his first trey of the game.  Once again, the Shockers had an answer, wrapping up the half on an 18-7 run to take a 34-27 lead at the half.  With Wichita up by ten, Harris hit a three at the buzzer to make it a seven-point deficit.
 
An early rally by the Aces in the second half saw them knot the game at 40-40.  Ryan scored 11 points in the opening five minutes of the period, but the Shockers responded with a 7-0 run over the course of two minutes.
 
Wichita State continued to pad its lead, finding itself up 61-51 inside of ten minutes remaining.  That is when Evansville made its run.  Harris continued his solid outing, tallying five, including a three-pointer that brought the Aces within a point at 64-63.
 
With only 1:24 left, Colt Ryan sank two free throws to put the Aces back in front, 65-64.  Stutz struck once again, putting the Shockers on top with another jumper in the last minute.  After Joe Ragland hit one of two free throws, the Aces had the ball down by two with 16 seconds left.  Harris was fouled on a putback attempt, sending him to the line with just one tick left where he hit the first free throw before missing the second giving WSU the win.
 
The Shockers hit 26-of-44 shots in the game, finishing with a 59.1 shooting percentage.  Stutz hit 12 out of 14 shots while hauling in a game-high ten boards.  His efforts helped the Shockers take a 30-20 edge in rebounding.  Toure’ Murry was the other WSU player in double figures, scoring ten.  WSU also finished the night with a 40-14 edge in points in the paint.
 
In three of the next four games, the Aces will be on the road, beginning on Saturday at Illinois State.  Next Tuesday, UE will travel to Indiana State before returning home on January 13 to take on Drake.  The busy stretch concludes two days later when the Aces travel to Missouri State.