PEORIA, Ill. – Coming in off the bench, AJ Casey scored a career-high 21 points on Monday evening to pace the University of Evansville men's basketball team in a 76-68 setback to Bradley inside Carver Arena.

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Box Score

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Casey was 8-of-11 from the field on the way to his career outing. His previous high of 14 points came in the season opener at top-ranked Purdue. He added six boards and a pair of assists. Josh Hughes recorded 14 points and a team-high 7 caroms while Bryce Quinet recorded 11 points. Jaquan Johnson paced Bradley with 22 points.
 
"Basketball is a game of runs. I thought we did a great job of punching first and setting the tone," UE head men's basketball coach David Ragland said. "We did a great job with the scouts and got some stops and finished the first half the right way. Early in the second half, we had some good looks but shots were just not falling. Once we got them to fall we made a run and battled to the finish. This is a tough league especially on the road and we need to learn how to finish these games."
 
Evansville was on fire to open the night converting five of its first six attempts to take a 13-0 lead just over three minutes into the game. Josh Hughes and Alex Hemenway knocked down 3-pointers to open the game while Leif Moeller added a basket during the run. Hughes' second triple capped the run. UE's defense held the Braves to a 0-for-6 start from the field.
 
Bradley made its way back, utilizing an 11-0 run over the next five minutes to make it a 2-point game. The Braves held the Aces scoreless for a stretch of 5:37 as they closed the gap. AJ Casey ended the stretch as Kaia Berridge found him for a dunk. As the half reached its midway point, BU cut the deficit to 15-14 before UE answered with four in a row. Berridge found Casey for another slam to complete the run.
 
Up 26-25 entering the last five minutes, Hughes' fourth triple of the contest was followed by a Bryce Quinet jumper that made it a 31-24 game. The Braves closed over the final moments to make it a 35-31 game at the half. Hughes led all players with 14 points in the opening stanza.
 
Out of the break, the Braves took their first lead at 38-36. Holding UE to a 0-for-12 start, BU outscored the Aces by a 13-1 margin to take their first lead of the night at 44-36. Casey's 3-point play got UE back on track before Hemenway's second triple made it a 44-42 game with 13:32 remaining.
 
Two minutes later, Quinet connected his first triple of the night to put UE back in front at 48-47. Following a 3-pointer by Bradley, Hemenway drained another from downtown, his third of the game, to give UE a 51-50 edge heading into the final 10 minutes. With 8:39 remaining, Keishon Porter's alley-oop put Evansville in front at 55-52. That is when the Braves made their run scoring seven in a row to jump in front at 59-55.
 
Quinet added two free throws inside of five minutes left to knot the score at 61-61. Bradley countered with four in a row and would slowly add to the lead before finishing the game with a 76-68 victory.
 
The Braves had a slight shooting advantage for the night at 40.6%-40.3% while completing the game with a 41-39 edge on the boards. UE remains on the road to face Illinois State on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.