Box Score


Box Score (PDF)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the first time since the 1986-87 season, the Purple Aces men's basketball season began the season at 4-0 as they defeated Valparaiso by a final of 100-92 on Wednesday evening at the Ford Center.
 
The offensive game marked the first 100-point effort since the 103-69 win over Oakland City last season.  It is the first time scoring triple figures against a Division I team since a 100-85 win over Central Michigan on Nov. 19, 2004.
 
"I am really proud of my team, I thought they played their hearts out, especially in the first half.  It was very fun to watch the way they executed," head coach Marty Simmons said.  "I am also proud of the second half as we overcame their run and did a good job with their pressure late in the game."
 
D.J. Balentine recorded his fourth-consecutive game of 29 points or more as he set his career mark with 32.  He hit 8-of-14 shots overall, 6-of-8 threes and all ten free throws.  Adam Wing set his career mark, going 6-7 from the floor while knocking down all of his free throws to finish the night with 18.  Freshman Blake Simmons tied his scoring mark with 15.
 
It was Balentine providing the early spark as the Aces jumped out to a 19-6 lead in the opening moments of the game.  Balentine was 4-4 and connected on all three treys that he attempted as UE had the upper hand.  Overall, Evansville hit 7 of its first 8 shots while Valparaiso was 1-5.  A dunk by Moussa Gueye ended the stretch, but it proved to be just a bump in the road for the Aces.
 
After Valparaiso got within nine points at 21-12, the Aces went on a 15-4 stretch to open up a 20-point advantage with 7:47 remaining in the half.  The hot shooting of UE was the difference as they hit 14 out of 20 shots to begin the game, including all five three-pointers.  The Crusaders hit four shots in a row to close with 13 at 39-26, but the Purple Aces regained their spark to finish the half on a 16-4 stretch to take a 55-39 lead into the locker room.
 
In that stretch to end the period, UE hit six out of eight shots while Valparaiso made both shots in the final 4:36 but turned the ball over on three occasions.  The Aces shot 65.5% (21-of-32) in the half while turning the ball over just twice.  Valparaiso hit 12 out of their 21 attempts to shot 57.1% but turned the ball over ten times.  It marked the first time Evansville scored 50 points or more in the first half of a game since Feb. 1, 2012 at Bradley while it was the second game in a row UE accomplished the feat in either half, recording 51 in the second half against Mercer on Monday night.
 
Out of the break, Adam Wing drained a shot off of the feed from Duane Gibson as the Aces opened up their largest lead of 27 points at 57-30.  With just under 17 minutes left, UE still found itself up by that amount before the Crusaders made their rally.  Over the next three minutes, VU scored the next 11 points, hitting 5-of-7 field goals.  Bobby Capobianco was responsible for four tallies as they cut the gap to 16 points.  Evansville was 0-3 with a pair of turnovers.  Following a timeout by Coach Simmons, Ryan Sawvell ended the run with a layup.
 
Showing the maturity of student-athletes well beyond their years, the Aces did just that in absorbing the Crusader rally.  After they got within 13 points at 67-54, Evansville came right back with 9 in a row of their own as Sawvell had two more field goals.  Valparaiso was not phased by the rally as they got even closer over the next three minutes, hitting six out of eight to cut the gap to 81-69 with 5:14 left before Balentine topped the run with a pair of free throws.
 
Alec Peters got VU even closer with four minutes remaining.  His back-to-back treys made it an 83-74 game.  Adam Wing got those three right back on the next trip down the floor with an and-one.  The threes kept coming in bunches for Valparaiso before a pair of LaVonte Dority free throws inside the final two minutes cut the deficit to just six points at 91-85.
 
Blake Simmons hit a free throw with 31 seconds left to put UE back up by nine points, but the 12th three of the game and the first for Capobianco once again made it a 6-point game.  That was the last trey of the game for VU and it was Balentine who hit all four free throws in the final seconds as the Aces finished off with a 100-92 win.
 
Evansville finished the evening shooting 61.1%, the first time in just about a year the Aces have hit 60%, doing so by shooting .632 against Miami Ohio last season. 
 
Peters had a stellar night for the Crusaders, scoring a career-best 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting and 7-11 from outside the arc.  Dority was next with 17.
 
Two other Aces tallied double figures, led by Sawvell's 14-point night.  He was 7-10 from the floor as he fell just two shy of his career mark.  Duane Gibson scored 12 points, but ran the offense even better to the tune of 10 assists.  The Aces posted 24 assists on 33 shots.
 
Balentine's streak of 29 or more in four-straight games is something UE has not seen in 25 years.  The last to do that was Aces great Scott Haffner, who posted a similar streak in the 1988-89 campaign.  One of the games in that stretch was his legendary 65-point night against Dayton.
 
In just three days, the Aces will be back on the home floor as they square off against Anderson University.  Tip at the Ford Center will be at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday night.