Box Score MURRAY, Ky. – Excelling on both sides of the floor, Gabriel Pozzato recorded 15 points and 6 steals on Tuesday as the University of Evansville men's basketball team dropped a 63-61 game at Murray State in the Missouri Valley Conference opener.

---

Box Score

---

Pozzato hit 5 of his 10 attempts while playing the full 40 minutes.  Cam Haffner registered 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting while Tanner Cuff added 10 points and a team-high 6 boards.  Tayshawn Comer wrapped up the game with 9 points, 4 boards, and 3 assists.
 
"I am proud of the effort that our guys put in tonight.  We battled back every time we were down and had strong energy right to the end," UE head coach David Ragland stated after the game.  "At the start, I felt like the 9-day layoff showed a little bit, but we fought back and gave Murray State everything we had."
 
Over the opening six minutes, the Racers jumped out to a 12-2 lead.  Evansville began the game 1-of-6 from the field while turning the ball over twice.  Tanner Cuff got UE back on track with his first basket of the game.  At the 10:41-mark, MSU pushed their lead back up to nine points at 17-8.
 
It was the Purple Aces who made their first major run of the night, outscoring the Racers by a 13-6 margin to cut the deficit to just a pair.  Cam Haffner's triple with 8:54 remaining in the half made it a 19-15 game.  The junior struck again two minutes later, converting a second-chance basket to get Evansville within two at 23-21.
 
Things swung back to Murray State over the ensuing 5-minute stretch as they scored nine in a row to take their largest lead at 32-21 inside the final two minutes.  UE missed six field goal tries in a row as MSU made its run.  In the final offensive possession, Tanner Cuff's tip in made it a 33-25 game entering the break.
 
Tawshawn Comer forced a steal before a fast break dunk got the Aces on the board to open the second half.  Three more field goals by Cuff kept the Racer lead in single digits and the persistence for the Aces paid off as the game entered its final nine minutes.  Trailing 50-41, a basket from Comer was followed by a Connor Turnbull 3-pointer that cut the gap to just four – 50-46.
 
Another triple by Haffner got things even closer and, with four minutes left, Gabriel Pozzato's long ball got his squad within one at 57-56.  Neither team gave an inch over the final minutes, but it was UE who continued to chip away.  With 1:15 remaining, Haffner's second-chance layup knotted the score at 58-58. 
 
On their ensuing possession, MSU countered with a 3-point play before knocking down a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 63-58 with 41 ticks on the clock.  Just when it looked like the Racers would finish off the win, Evansville had other ideas.  Following a missed UE shot, Pozzato forced a steal and converted a dunk to get back within three.
 
Pozzato continued his relentless defense, forcing another Racer turnover before hitting a free throw to make it a 63-61 game with 22 second left.  Murray State missed an attempt with 12 seconds remaining to give the Aces one more shot trailing by two.  UE had a final look at a triple, but the attempt fell short to seal the win for the Racers.
 
JaCobi Wood led the Racers with 21 points while Kylen Milton scored 12.  MSU shot 43.1% in the game while UE finished slightly higher at 43.9%.  The Racers completed the game with a 39-30 edge on the boards.
 
UE will be back at the Ford Center on Saturday welcoming Western Kentucky for a 1 p.m. game.