Box Score
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Freshman #D.J. Balentine# posted a career effort as he scored 26 points as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team fell by a 79-72 final to Colorado State on Saturday afternoon at Moby Arena.
Balentine hit 10-of-15 shots, including six treys to lead the Aces (4-3). Four players finished in double figures for Colorado State (6-0), led by Greg Smith’s 19-point effort.
Down as many as 18 in the final eight minutes, Evansville cut the gap to five points before CSU was able to hold off the charge.
Colorado State scored the first seven points and kept rolling from there. Dorian Green knocked down a trey as the Rams also got off to a quick start on the boards, hauling in six of the first seven.
Ned Cox got UE on the board with a jumper before the Rams, led by nine Colton Iverson tallies, jumped out to a 21-10 advantage less than seven minutes into the contest.
Facing a double-figure deficit, Balentine made it a manageable deficit as he hit his first four shots, including three treys to being the Aces back within five points at 24-19 before the Rams pushed their lead back into double figures and as many as 16 (39-23) as Greg Smith and Wes Eikmeier joined Iverson in double figures.
Evansville cut into the lead in the final minutes, going into the locker room down by 12 at the break. Colorado State scored 44 points in the first half, the previous high an opponent scored in a period against UE this season was 33 by Tennessee Tech.
Out of halftime, Evansville reeled off five in a row. Egidijus Mockevicius got down the floor in transition to score before
Colt Ryan knocked down his second three-pointer of the day to make it a 44-37 game. With the lead still at seven (48-41), the Rams went on an 11-0 run to open up their largest lead at 18 points as Dorian Green registered seven points in the stretch. A floater by Balentine ended the stretch.
With six minutes left, UE found itself in a 17-point hole before the threes started to fall. Cox and Balentine connected to make it a 13-point deficit before the Kokomo, Ind. native drained two more treys as the Aces made it a 69-62 game with just over three minutes left.
The run continued into the final minute as Cox notched his second trey to make it a 5-point game at 75-70, but the rally was just a bit too late as the Rams held on for the 79-72 win.
Looking better and better in his comeback,
Colt Ryan finished the game with 20 points while Mockevicius and Cox had 10 apiece. The Aces outshot the Rams, hitting 50.9% of their shots while CSU shot 48.1%. The main advantage for the Rams came in rebounding as they had a 41-22 edge on the boards.
Three CSU players finished with 16 points including Iverson, Eikmeier and Green.
Evansville will begin a four-game home stretch at the Ford Center beginning on Wednesday as UE will take on Miami (Ohio) at 7:05 p.m. Next Saturday, Murray State comes to town for a 1 p.m. contest.
