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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – D.J. Balentine reeled off his fourth 20-point game in a row to lead the University of Evansville basketball team to a 65-62 victory at Belmont on Tuesday evening at Curb Event Center.
 
The win for the Purple Aces (7-1) came in a building that saw Belmont (7-2) win 59 of its last 61 games to begin the night.

"They came out and they were more aggressive and outplayed us in the first 20 minutes.  Give our guys credit – they came out and regrouped and got off to the start I thought they needed to in the second half," head coach Marty Simmons said.  "We just battled, it's not easy, they always have five guys that can shoot the three.  I thought we showed a lot of grit and character."
 
Balentine scored his 25 on 10-of-18 shooting while hauling in five rebounds and dishing out four assists.  Egidijus Mockevicius finished the night with 8 points and 8 rebounds while Jaylon Brown equaled the total eight points.
 
It was a great start for the Purple Aces, who jumped out to a 10-3 lead after hitting their first four shots of the game.  D.J. Balentine opened the game with a short jumper before Blake Simmons hit a triple to give UE a quick 5-0 lead.
 
Evan Bradds got the Bruins on the board two minutes in as his trey made it a 5-3 tilt in favor of the Aces.  Balentine added another three while Gibson had a layup to extend the advantage to 10-3.  Later, Jaylon Brown ended a 0-4 stretch for the Aces as his jumper put UE on top 12-5.
 
Belmont began the game 2-9 from the field, but their offense was clicking over the remainder of the period, hitting 10 of their next 17 attempts.  Spearheading that effort was Amanze Egekeze, who hit 4 of his 5 attempts and all three from outside.  The first lead of the night for Belmont came with 10:14 left in the opening frame as Nick Smith hit a pair of free throws to put them up 18-17.
 
The advantage reached as many as 10 points at 35-25 as Spencer Turner hit a triple with 3:17 remaining.  Evansville was able to cut into the deficit, heading to halftime down 37-29.  The Aces outshot the Bruins in the half, hitting 45.8% of their attempts, but the difference came from outside as Belmont was 7-14.  Balentine and Egekeze each had 11 at the break.
 
Evansville ran its offense well after halftime, hitting its first five shots over the first three minutes as they cut the gap to just one at 41-40.  Adam Wing capped off the rally with his first bucket of the night.  The UE defense forced two turnovers as Belmont took two quick timeouts.  Spencer Turner ended the drought at the 16-minute mark as his second triple made it 44-40 in favor of the Bruins.
 
With 13:48 remaining, the lead went back into the hands of the Aces as Balentine drained a three to give UE a 46-44 edge.  He struck again a minute later to put Evansville up 48-44.  The lead would reach five on two occasions including 56-51.  The mid part of the second stanza was a defensive battle before Jaylon Brown hit a three with the shot clock in its final seconds to put UE up 56-51 with just over three minutes remaining.
 
On the ensuing possession, Nick Smith struck from three as he heaved a triple at the buzzer with UE playing stellar defense to cut the edge to two.  Egidijus Mockevicius got two of those back as Mislav Brzoja assisted on his second bucket of the day.  Following a Bruin miss, their bench was called for a technical.  Balentine knocked down both shots as UE took a 60-54 lead.
 
Mockevicius took his turn at the free throw line with 1:38 remaining as he connected on both to give UE its largest lead at 62-54.
 
A game-changing play took place with just under a minute left.  Up seven with the ball, UE turned the ball over and got called for an intentional foul in the span of a few seconds.  The team did not let that hurt their momentum as they were able to hang on for the 65-62 win.
 
UE shot 48.9% for the night, including 52.4% (11/21) in the second half.  The defense clamped down in a big way, holding Belmont to just 31.3% (10-of-32) in the second half.  After shooting 7-14 from outside in the first period, Belmont was 4-17 in the second half.  Four Bruins hit double figures as Egekeze and Bradds notched 13 apiece. 
 
On Saturday, Evansville returns home to face another Ohio Valley Conference team – Murray State.  The Aces and Racers face off at 1:05 p.m. inside the Ford Center.  Tickets are available by calling 812-488-ACES.