Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A late rally by the University of Evansville men’s basketball team against No. 23 Creighton fell short as the Bluejays held on for a 71-68 win on Saturday afternoon at the Ford Center.
 
Down by nine with under five minutes remaining, Evansville (14-13, 7-8 MVC) got within a point with 1:11 left, but Creighton (21-6, 10-5 MVC) held off the furious charge to hang on for the win.
 
Ned Cox led UE with 18 points on a 6-14 shooting night that included four three-pointers.  Colt Ryan tallied 13 while moving up to second on the all-time scoring list for the Aces.  Freshman Adam Wing, making the first start of his career, set his career mark with 10 points.
 
“We kept battling and our guys showed a lot of toughness and we had our chances at the end,” UE head coach Marty Simmons said.  “I cannot fault our effort, Creighton is a smart team and if you make mistakes, they make you pay for it.”
 
A hot 6-for-6 start to the game saw Evansville jump out to a 14-3 lead less than five minutes into the game.  Ned Cox and Adam Wing opened up with back-to-back threes while Egidijus Mockevicius recorded a pair of baskets in the opening rally.  Creighton fought back with a stretch of its own as Jahenns Manigat recorded 8 early tallies as the Bluejays made 4-5 shots in a 12-3 run to get within a point at 16-15.  After its 6-6 start, the Aces made just one of their next eight attempts.
 
In an early show of runs by each team, it was the Aces turn as they hit four out of their opening six threes as a 10-0 stretch gave UE a 26-15 lead with nine minutes left in the opening stanza.  The hot shooting turned into a 15-0 rally that gave Evansville its largest lead of the game at 31-15 inside of eight minutes left in the first half.
 
Creighton fought off its rough start to post a double-figure run of its own as an 11-0 rally got the Bluejays back with five at 31-26.  Evansville missed seven shots in a row while CU was 4-5.  Wing connected on his second three with just over two minutes remaining to end a drought of five minutes. 
 
In the final minutes, the Bluejays were able to cut the lead back to five as the score stood at 36-31 at the half.  Cox and Manigat scored nine apiece to lead all scorers in the half while Colt Ryan tallied six opening-half points.  With that tally, he passed Marcus Wilson for second on the all-time UE list.  Wilson finished his Evansville career with 2,053 points.
 
Doug McDermott, who tallied six points in the first half, matched that total in just three minutes in the second, notching six of CU's opening eight points before Avery Dingman scored his first bucket of the game, a three, to give the Bluejays their first lead of the game at 42-40 with 16:26 left.  With the Bluejays up 44-40, three UE points came from an unlikely source as Ryan Sawvell connected on the first trey of his career to bring UE back within one. 
 
The lead would change hands on two occasions before Creighton took its largest lead at 54-48 inside of 11 minutes left in the game.  UE used another Cox three to get back within one before the Bluejays took a 65-56 edge with five minutes left.
 
Evansville made a furious rally as an 8-0 run brought them within a point with just over two minutes left.  Later, a pair of free throws by Cox brought UE back within a point once again with just over a minute remaining.   The Bluejays continued to hold the lead into the final seconds when a McDermott free throw gave them a 71-68 lead.  The Aces had a chance for the tie, but a trey by Cox fell short.
 
McDermott led everyone with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Austin Chatman had 12 for CU.  The Aces finished with a 37-25 lead on the boards while it was Creighton shooting 52.2% and Evansville finishing at 40%.
 
On Wednesday, Evansville looks to right the ship versus Illinois State.  The Aces and Redbirds tip off at 7:05 p.m. at the Ford Center.