Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Four players combined to score 76 out of 82 points as the Murray State Racers used a strong second half to earn an 82-70 victory over the Purple Aces on Saturday afternoon at the Ford Center.
 
Preseason All-American Isaiah Canaan and Ed Daniel scored 21 points apiece to lead the Racers (7-1) while Stacy Wilson notched 18 and Brandon Garrett finished with 16.  Daniel also grabbed a game-high 15 boards.  Leading the Aces (5-4) was Ned Cox with 16 points while #D.J. Balentine# tallied 15.  Colt Ryan scored 13 while fellow senior Troy Taylor had the fifth double-double of his career with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
 
“We were aggressive in the opening minutes, but we could not carry that into the second half,” UE head coach Marty Simmons said.  “Our guys need to learn to sustain that aggressiveness and learn from this.  Murray State increased their intensity and that is what made the difference.”
 
It was Ned Cox providing the offensive spark in the early going, hitting his first seven shots as Evansville jumped out to the early advantage.  His opening five shots helped the Aces go up by a 15-2 mark; with the scored tied at 2-2, UE reeled off the next 13 points while outrebounding the Racers by a 7-1 margin and holding them to 1-for-7 shooting.  A trey by Stacy Wilson ended the 13-0 Evansville run.
 
Evansville continued its solid run early on as a pair of Troy Taylor free throws gave Evansville a 26-12 lead.  Murray State rallied back with an 8-0 run as they kept the Aces off the board for five minutes; UE missed six shots while turning the ball over three times.  A Taylor free throw ended the run before he scored on a layup seconds later.
 
The Racers continued the run, which turned into a 24-13 stretch as UE went to the half with a 39-36 edge.  Cox finished with 16 points in the period while Taylor notched nine to go along with seven boards. 
 
After its big run to finish up the first half, Murray opened the second stanza on a 16-4 run to take a 52-43 lead.  The Racers began the half hitting five of their first eight shots.  Isaiah Canaan, who was held to just six points in the first half, scored ten in the opening eight minutes of the final period.  The Aces were cold from the floor as they missed their first six shots of the half while turning the ball over on four occasions.
 
With MSU up by a 57-45 margin, D.J. Balentine scored five in a row for UE while cutting the deficit to 59-51 with eight minutes left, but that is as close as the Aces would get over the remainder of the game as the Racers countered every UE run with one of their own in earning the 82-70 win.
 
In the second half, Murray State was 18-of-27 (66.7%) from the floor while UE was 10-29.  MSU also finished the contests with a 41-30 edge on the boards.
 
Evansville will have a week to prepare for its next opponent as Alabama State comes to the Ford Center for a 1:05 p.m. contest next weekend.  The Aces will wrap up the 4-game homestand on Dec. 18 when they face Oakland City at 7:05 p.m.  In two weeks, UE will play its final non-conference game of the calendar year, traveling to Butler on Dec. 22.