Box Score (PDF)

NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State took a 14-3 lead in the opening moments of the game and added to it to defeat the University of Evansville men's basketball team by a final of 62-50 on Thursday night at Redbird Arena.
 
Jaylon Brown led the Purple Aces (9-5, 0-1 MVC) with 17 points while hitting 11 out of 13 free throws.  Ryan Taylor had 11 points while Solomon Hainna finished the night with six.  Pacing the Redbirds (9-4, 1-0 MVC) was Phil Fayne, who had 17 points.  Two other ISU players finished with nine.
 
Illinois State was on fire in the opening moments of the game, taking a 14-3 lead in the opening minutes of the game.  Triples by Tony Wills and Keyshawn Evans capped off the run.
 
Following the tough start, the Aces got rolling with a 12-2 run to trail by just a point at 16-15 with eight minutes left in the first half.  Jaiveon Eaves hit a triple in the rally while David Howard hit a pair of baskets.  Down by just one with five minutes left, the Redbirds got their long range game going again as Paris Lee and Deontae Hawkins hit treys of their own to give ISU a 24-17 edge.
 
Those baskets were the first of four triples in a row and five consecutive makes as they opened up their largest lead of the night at 35-23.  Evansville hit a late bucket to make it a 35-25 game at the break.
 
Evansville recorded the first four points of the second half and looked to be poised for more, but the Redbirds grabbed the offensive board on a missed dunk and earned an old-fashioned 3-point play to go back up by nine at 38-29.  That was the start of an 8-0 stretch that saw ISU open up a 43-29 lead.
 
The lead continued to grow and reached as many as 20 at 59-39 before the Aces roared back with an 11-1 run as a Ryan Taylor triple capped off the run in the final two minutes.  That is as close as UE would get as the Redbirds were able to finish off the night with the 62-50 win.
 
UE's offense could not find its groove against ISU, shooting just 25.9% on the night. The Redbirds shot 37.7%.  Evansville finished with a 45-39 rebounding advantage.
 
West Side Night is up next on Sunday as the Purple Aces open the home portion of their conference slate against UNI.  Game time is at 3 p.m.  West Side fans can get vouchers for $5 tickets to the game at 17 different locations on the west side of Evansville.
 

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