Box Score
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Four Aces finished in double figures as the University of Evansville men's basketball team made history as they took down Eastern Kentucky, 86-72, in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Physical Activities Center on the campus of USI.
With the win, UE improved to 20-14 overall, its first 20-win season since the 1998-99 campaign. It also marked the first time the Aces have won two postseason tournament games since winning the 1971 National Championship.
Colt Ryan led the way with 25 points as he is just nine points shy of breaking Larry Humes' all-time scoring record for UE. He connected on 13 out of 14 free throws while dishing out five assists. He was followed by an efficient career effort from fellow senior
Troy Taylor. The Anderson, Ind. product went a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor en route to a career-best 16 points. He also tallied 7 assists and 7 rebounds.
Ned Cox and D.J. Balentine finished with 13 points apiece.
EKU (25-10, 12-4 OVC) was hitting on all cylinders early on, draining a pair of threes on its way to an 8-0 advantage less than three minutes into the contest. Evansville turned the ball over on its first two possessions before missing a pair of shots. At the 3-minute mark, Ned Cox got the Aces on the board with a jumper from the line.
The hot start for EKU continued as they connected on their first five attempts with four of those coming from long range as the lead stood at 16-5. Cox did his best to bring the Aces back, scoring seven of UE's first 12 points as they cut the deficit back to four a 16-12.
Evansville continued to makes its way back as Colt Ryan found his touch, hitting a trey to tie the game up at 26-26 with about 8 minutes remaining in the first half before knocking down a pair of free throws as UE took its first advantage at 28-26.
That lead grew to as many as eight points with three minutes left in the period as another bucket by Ryan gave the Aces a 39-31 edge. EKU rallied late in the half, capitalizing on three UE turnovers in the final two minutes to tie the score at 43-43 going into the half. Ryan finished the half with a game-high 15 points asUE hit 55.6% of its shots while EKU saw their shooting go even higher at 66.7%.
After EKU took an early 45-43 lead to open up the second stanza, the Aces slowly took over. They took a 53-48 lead in the opening six minutes of the half before Mike DiNunno drained his fourth trey of the contest to get back within two. A 6-0 spurt saw Evansville match its largest lead of eight points as D.J. Balentine made it a 3-3 day from three-point range and Ryan Sawvell followed that up with three points of his own.
With just under nine minutes left, the lead hit double figures for the first time as Ryan nailed his second trey of the day to put UE up by a score of 65-53. The stretch for UE turned into a 14-4 run as UE held the Colonels to 2-of-7 shooting while forcing four turnovers.
Eastern Kentucky made a quick run to cut their deficit to just eight at 68-60 before Troy Taylor put a stop to that with his sixth bucket of the day. Taylor erupted for three more as he set is career scoring high of 16 points, besting his previous effort set on the road at Missouri State last January. The lead would grow to as many as 16 points before UE finished off the 86-72 win.
The Aces finished with a resounding effort on the boards, outrebounding EKU by a 41-20 final, led by 10 courtesy of
Ryan Sawvell. He led all players with ten caroms while posting six tallies.
Lewis Jones came off the bench to set his career mark with 9 rebounds. He also scored seven points.
Both squads shot lights out as UE finished at 54.9% while EKU (25-50) was at 50%. The Colonels were 11-of-27 from three-point range while the Aces were an efficient 50% (6-12).
Four EKU players registered double digits as Glenn Cosey led the way with 18. DiNunno finished with 14.
Evansville now awaits its next opponent as seven more CIT games remain this weekend. GoPurpleAces.com will have full details posted as soon as they are available.
