Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – #Colt Ryan# finished with a season-high 26 points to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team to an 85-68 victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday evening at the Ford Center.
 
Ryan led all players as he hit 8-of-13 shots while connecting on all seven free throws.  Three other Aces (9-6, 2-1 MVC) scored in double figures led by Ned Cox, who tallied 17.  Lewis Jones notched 11 while Troy Taylor finished with ten.  It marked the first time that the quartet of seniors all hit double figures in the same game in their UE careers.
 
“We played with more intensity tonight and just came out ready to play, it was a nice win for us,” Evansville head coach Marty Simmons said.  “We had a few careless turnovers in the first half, but we played a little simpler and guys made more shots in the second half.”
 
Troy Taylor recorded a pair of early buckets before three free throws by Colt Ryan gave UE a 9-6 advantage.  Just under eight minutes into the first half, Jaylon Moore hit a free throw to give the Aces a 14-10 advantage marking the first two-possession advantage for either squad in the contest.
 
Southern Illinois (7-7, 0-3 MVC) utilized a solid presence down low early on as their first 12 points came in the pain as the Salukis drained six of their first 12 shots.  Kendal Brown-Surles changed that as his jumper at the 10-minute mark tied the game up at 16 and was SIU’s first points outside of the paint.  Evansville’s next three buckets came via the long shot as Lewis Jones, Ryan and Ned Cox all hit treys to put UE up by a 25-18 margin.
 
The shots kept falling for UE as they hit nine of their final 12 shots of the period en route to a 37-31 halftime lead.  Southern Illinois kept the pressure on, though, as they hit 7-of-9 shots over a span of nine minutes in the half.  In Wednesday’s game against Missouri State, neither team was shooting 30% at the break, but that changed on Saturday as UE stood at 53.8% at the half while SIU shot 52.2% in the opening stanza.
 
Cox got the offense rolling as his 3-pointer helped Evansville match its largest lead of 9 points on the opening possession of the second half.  At the 17:33 mark, Taylor’s eighth point of the contest helped UE take its first double-digit lead at 46-35.  The run to open the half extended to an 18-4 stretch that was capped off by a powerful Moore dunk just over five minutes into the period. 
 
Evansville’s lead reached as many as 23 (60-37) as Colt Ryan found the bottom of the net with a layup.  Their run to begin the half was a 23-6 stretch as SIU struggled to find its groove.  After knocking down its first two buckets, the Salukis missed their next seven shots while committing a pair of turnovers.  Southern Illinois did not give up as their 11-4 stretch cut the gap to 16 at 64-48.  Ryan’s third trey of the night ended the stretch.
 
SIU cut the deficit to 15 at one points, but Evansville was able to pull away once again to earn the 85-68 victory.
 
Jeff Early notched a double-double as he led the Salukis with 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.  Early was 10-of-14 from the charity stripe.  Anthony Beane tallied 15 while Desmar Jackson notched ten.
 
Evansville had its second-best shooting effort of the season, hitting 57.7% of its attempts; the top shooting game of the season came against Miami (Ohio) when the Aces were 63.2%.  Southern Illinois shot 51% on the night.  UE outrebounded the Salukis by a 31-24 final and improves to 7-0 this season when finishing with more boards.  Taylor was the top rebounder once again for Evansville, hauling in seven.  Free throw shooting was another strong point as UE was 16-of-18.  In its last three contests, UE has combined to hit 43 out of 49 attempts.
 
MVC play continues for the Aces as they will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa to face Northern Iowa on Wednesday evening at the McLeod Center.  Last year, Evansville picked up its first road win over the Panthers since the 2002 season.  On January 13, Evansville will be home once again to square off against Wichita State.