Box Score
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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Sophomore D.J. Balentine led the University of Evansville men's basketball team with 18 points, but Jarmar Gulley led everyone with 26 tallies as Missouri State took a 63-61 win on Tuesday evening at JQH Arena.
 
Beltntine hit 5-of-17 shots for the Aces (9-11, 2-5 MVC) while connecting on six of his seven free throw tries.  Egidijus Mockevicius also posted double figures, scoring ten while posting nine boards.  Gulley had a monstrous effort for Missouri State (13-6, 3-4 MVC) as he had 26 points on 9/20 shooting while also leading everyone with 12 boards.
 
Evansville's plan in the early going was to get the ball inside and they knocked down three early layups before the first triple of the day by Austin Ruder of MSU gave them an early 7-6 lead.  Following the start in the paint, UE started to get some looks from outside, taking a 15-9 lead.  D.J. Balentine knocked down his first trey of the contest in that run.
 
Both offenses hit a bit of a bump in the road as Missouri State made 1 out of 9 attempts over a stretch midway through the half as the Aces went up by an 18-11 score.  Two straight buckets by the Bears helped them cut the gap to 18-16 with just over six minutes left as the Aces were 0-3 with a pair of turnovers over a stretch of four minutes.  Jaylon Brown halted the stretch with a free throw.
 
Egidijus Mockevicius continued what would be a 5-0 run with two free throws before Balentine made a great play on a runout to put Evansville back up by five at 21-16 before Brown struck again as he banked one in to make it a 7-point game with 4:38 left in the half.  That edge would grow to as many as eight points when Balentine drained his second three of the night to put UE up 34-26 with just 90 ticks left on the clock.
 
Missouri State fought right back, recording the final six tallies of the frame to cut the deficit to just two at the break, 34-32.  Jarmar Gulley was the leading scorer in the stanza, posting 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting.  Balentine had 12 at the break.  Evansville outshot MSU by a 52.4%-35.3% margin in the opening frame, but a 10-0 edge on the offense glass at the break helped the Bears stay in the game as they converted those offensive boards into 8 second chance points.
 
After giving up those 10 offensive boards in the opening half, the Aces recorded their first two in the first possession of the second half, leading to a pair of Adam Wing free throws.  That momentum was short-lived as Missouri State hit its stride in a large way, hitting 5 of its first 6 shots of the second half to go up 44-40 just four minutes in.  An Emmanuel Addo bucket at the 3-minute mark gave the Bears their first lead since 7-6 before MSU added to the run.
 
The primary run for MSU came with Evansville up 40-39.  The Bears scored 11 of the next 14 points as they opened up the largest advantage of the game at 52-44.  Over a stretch of seven  minutes, the Bears held UE to just 1/4 shooting while forcing four turnovers.  Evansville fought its way back midway through the latter stanza, downing six in a row to cut the lead to just a possession at 52-40 at the 8-minute mark.
 
MSU's lead stayed within 1-2 possessions before Blake Simmons hit his first triple of the evening with just over four minutes left to get Evansville within just one at 58-57.  With two minutes remaining, MSU pushed its lead to 61-57 with a Christian Kirk free throw, but Balentine countered with his second make of the second half to get within a possession and, following a miss by the bears, hit the second of his two free throws to get the deficit back to a tally with under 90 ticks left.  With the game in the final 30 seconds, UE fouled Ron Mvouika, sending him to the line where his shots from the charity stripe pushed that lead back to three for MSU (63-60).
 
Following a missed three by Balentine, Gulley missed the front end of a one-and-one, handing the ball back to Evansville with 20 ticks on the clock.  The Aces were unable to convert as MSU clinched the 64-61 triumph.
 
The Aces finished with the shooting edge at 43%-38%, but rebounding belonged to the Bears with a final 43-28 tally, including 18-3 on the offensive boards.
 
Next up for UE will be Bradley on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m.  Fans are encouraged to arrive early to the Ford Center as the second phase of the Hilliard Lyons Corridor of Champions will be unveiled at 11:45 a.m.  The dedication is open to the public and will be held on the street level of the arena.