Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A pair of sophomores set career highs as the University of Evansville men's basketball team opened up the 2013-14 campaign with an 87-69 victory over Martin Methodist on Saturday evening at the Ford Center.

#D.J. Balentine led all players with a career-high 29 points while Adam Wing# had his top scoring effort with 15. Balentine was efficient all the way around, hitting 9 out of 14 shots while posting a 9-of-11 night from the stripe. He also dished out a career-best nine assists. Wing was an efficient 6-of-8 from the floor.

In the first regular season game of his career, freshman Blake Simmons finished the night with 11 points while knocking down all four free throw attempts.

Evansville's defense smothered the RedHawks from the outset, forcing turnovers in each of Martin Methodist's first three possessions on its way to a 9-0 lead. Reginald Porter knocked down a 10-footer 3 minutes in ending the streak. Wing posted a trey to cap off the run for UE.

Porter's bucket helped the RedHawks begin a 9-0 run over the next 3+ minutes as they would tie the game at 9-9. Brandon Hunter hit three free throws to knot the game. The Aces refused to let the rally phase them as they fought back with 10 in a row of their own as Jaylon Moore contributed to the run with four points.

Later in the half it was the other Jaylon, freshman Jaylon Brown, knocking down two free throws to give the Aces their largest lead of the half at 38-24 inside of three minutes remaining. The RedHawks cut the gap to ten points as the halftime score stood at 43-33.

Martin Methodist opened up the second half on a 21-14 run as they got within a possession at 57-54 inside of 13 minutes remaining. Brian Blackmon scored seven points in the run, including a 3-pointer to bring the RedHawks right back into the game. With a young squad on the floor, head coach Marty Simmons called a time out to take a minute and regroup.

As it turned out, the quick break was exactly what the team needed. Out of the time out, Jaylon Brown tallied five points in a row as the Aces rallied for a 12-2 run to go up by a 69-56 score with 9:06 left in the contest.

From that point on, it was all Aces. The advantage remained in double figures over the duration as the largest lead was the final score of 87-69.

Blackmon was the top scorer for the RedHawks, finishing with 13 points. Morris Mitchell recorded 12.

Evansville's offense finished an efficient night, shooting 56.6% while Martin Methodist finished at 38.5%. The Aces struggled from outside in the first half, hitting 2 out of 9 attempts before going 4-of-6 in the second stanza to finish the night at 40%.

Both teams took care of the ball as the Aces totaled 13 turnovers while forcing 14 by the RedHawks.

The Aces make their first road trip of the season on Tuesday evening when they travel to face IUPUI. Tip is set for 7 p.m. ET in Indianapolis.