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ST. LOUIS – Fourth-seeded Illinois State overcame a 6-point halftime deficit to defeat No. 5 University of Evansville by a 71-67 final in Friday's opener for the Purple Aces at Arch Madness at Scottrade Center.
 
Evansville (19-12, 9-9 MVC) led by as many as nine points in the first half before a 13-2 run in the second half keyed the comeback for the Redbirds (20-11, 11-7 MVC).
 
D.J. Balentine led the Aces with 17 points on a 6-of-17 shooting day from the field.  He drained all four free throw attempts while dishing out four assists.  Mislav Brzoja tied Balentine's mark with four helpers while scoring 11 points.  He knocked down three 3-pointers.  Egidijus Mockevicius totaled 14 points for the Aces to go along with seven rebounds, which was tied for the game high.
 
Threes were the story early on for the Purple Aces as Blake Simmons led a streak of back-to-back-to-back triples.  Evansville hit six of its first seven shots overall.  Simmons hit the first triple to put the Aces up 7-4.
 
Every time the UE hit a three, the Redbirds had an answer with an and-one and two treys of their own.  The back-to-back action led to a 15-15 score nearing the midway point of the first period.
 
A 9-0 run saw the Purple Aces take their largest lead of the game to that point at 24-15 with just over 8 minutes left.  Egidijus Mockevicius had a pair of dunks in the run, including an alley-oop on a great feed from Mislav Brzoja.
 
Illinois State showed some fight, getting back within four at 24-20 before the Aces slowly pushed their lead back up to six at 37-31 at the half.  Brzoja leads UE with 8 points in the opening half along with three assists.  UE shot 59.1% in the first half, hitting 13 out of 22 shots.
 
Coming out of the half, the Redbirds started to take control.  After the Aces made their first shot, they would miss their next five as the Redbirds went on a 13-2 run in the opening minutes.  Brzoja ended the stretch with 14 minutes left as he nailed his third triple of the game to make it a 44-42 game in favor of ISU.
 
Despite the shot, the Redbirds continued to play well and took their largest edge to that point at 50-44 midway through the latter frame.  That lead reached eight at 52-44 before the Aces started to make their run.  Six D.J. Balentine tallies saw the Aces get within just one points with 6:40 left at 54-53.  Just was fast as the Aces got back into it, the Redbirds notched consecutive field goals to hold a 58-53 lead with just over five minutes remaining.
 
The push for Evansville continued despite the quick spurt by the Redbirds.  Duane Gibson hit a pair of free throws to get UE back within three before Mockevicius hit two more from the charity stripe to knot it up at 59-59 with four minutes remaining.
 
Seconds later, Mockevicius connected on an and-one to put UE on top 62-61.  The lead escaped UE as the Redbirds posted the next five including a triple by Deontae Hawkins to go up 66-62.  Mockevicius ended the run with a pair of free throws at the 2-minute mark.  After his free throws cut it to two, Hawkins struck once again.  An old-fashioned 3-point play was the dagger with 1:30 remaining as ISU went up 69-64.  At that point, ISU hit 5 out of 7 field goals.
 
Just when it looked bad for the Aces, some improbable circumstances got UE right back in it.  Following an offensive shot clock violation, the Aces forced a turnover by the Redbirds on the inbound.  With the clock running down, Jaylon Brown slammed it home to make it a 69-66 game.
 
With 30 seconds left, the Purple Aces defense forced a travel on a strong trap to get the ball back.  Brown grabbed an offensive board and was fouled where he hit 1 of his 2 attempts.  On the ensuing possession, Illinois State hit both free throws to take a 71-67 lead with 12 ticks left on the clock and that would be the final score.
 
Hawkins led ISU with 17 points while DeVaughn Purcell had 13 and Daishon Knight had 12.
 
Keep track of GoPurpleAces.com for any potential postseason information for the Purple Aces.