Box Score
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sophomore D.J. Balentine kept his double-digit streak alive at 15 games, but his efforts were not enough as the University of Evansville men's basketball team fell to in-state rival Indiana State by a final of 81-62 on Saturday evening at the Ford Center.
 
Balentine hit 8 of his 15 attempts for UE (7-8, 0-2 MVC) as they fell to under .500 for the first time since digging out of an 0-2 hole to begin last season.  Aside from his efforts, junior Jaylon Moore recorded the top effort of his Aces career, finishing with 14 points on a 4-5 shooting effort.  Leading the Sycamores (11-3, 2-0 MVC) was Khristian Smith with a game-high 27 points.  Dawon Cummings was just behind with 22.
 
Shots were falling for Evansville at the start of the game; after missing its first bucket, Evansville made its next five in a row, including a pair by D.J. Balentine.  The early lead stood at 8-2 before Justin Gant posted the first eight Sycamore tallies including a pair of threes to get ISU within a pair at 10-8.
 
Later, UE took a 15-9 advantage on a Christian Benzon bucket before Indiana State rallied with six in a row as Brandon Burnett put down an offensive board to knot the game at 15-15 inside of 11 minutes left.  After Balentine scored the next five tallies, Indiana State battled back with eight in a row to take their first edge of the game at 24-22.
 
Back-to-back threes by ISU finished off the run as Dawon Cummings drained his first of the game with 6:27 remaining in the opening half to give the Sycamores their first advantage of the night.  Six lead changes would take place over the remainder of the half with neither team going up by more than a possession until Khristian Smith drained a floater at the buzzer to send Indiana State to the locker room up 35-31.
 
Smith picked up right where he left off in the second stanza, hitting another bucket to give ISU its largest lead to that point, 37-31.  The Aces fought right back as Egidijus Mockevicius knocked down a pair of free throws before Adam Wing drained his first trey of the game to get back within one.  Another Wing jumper made it a 41-40 game before a 5-0 spurt capped off by Cummings' second 3-pointer matched their 6-point advantage at 46-40 inside of 15 minutes left.
 
ISU's lead grew to double figures for the first time as Smith improved his shooting night to 8-of-10 overall and a perfect 3-3 from outside as his trey gave the Sycamores a 56-44 lead with 11:30 remaining.  Jaylon Moore hit a pair of free throws to pass his career scoring mark as the second one marked his 11th of the night.  More importantly, it cut the gap back to single digits at 58-49.
 
Just as fast as UE cut into the deficit, Indiana State got the points right back, leading by as many as 22 points before settling for the 81-62 victory.
 
Mockevicius played well on the defensive side, grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds, but the Sycamores outrebounded the Aces by a final of 34-26.  After shooting 56.5% from the floor in the first half, Evansville hit just eight out of 23 attempts (34.8%) in the second frame to finish the night at 45.7%.  Indiana State shot 51.9% for the game, led by an 11-13 game from Smith.  ISU shot 60.9% in the second half.
 
Home MVC play continues for the Purple Aces on Wednesday, Jan. 8 as the squad prepares to host Northern Iowa.  Tip is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Ford Center.