EVANSVILLE, Ind. – AJ Casey and Kaia Berridge set their career scoring marks as the University of Evansville men's basketball team defeated Illinois State by a final score of 88-80 on Monday at the Ford Center.

---

Box Score

---

Casey scored 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting while Berridge registered 14 points connecting on 4 of his 5 outside attempts. Bryce Quinet scored 17 points on the night while Leif Moeller picked up his first collegiate double-double with 16 points and 10 boards.
 
"We were close to putting together a full 40 minutes tonight and played our tails off," UE head coach David Ragland said following the victory. "Just really proud of our group for being resilient and staying the course. We were short-handed tonight but found a way to win."
 
Illinois State had the early momentum, connecting on their opening four shot attempts, including three from outside, to take an 11-4 lead in the opening two minutes. Evansville knocked down three of its opening four tries to keep it close at 11-6. Four more by the Redbirds pushed their lead to 15-6.
 
Evansville made its first rally at that point as Alex Hemenway and AJ Casey connected on consecutive triples to get within three. ISU temporarily halted the run with a basket before the Aces continued to storm back. Leif Moeller converted his first triple of the game before Bryce Quinet tied the game with 13:43 remaining with a layup.
 
Casey scored the next seven points for UE to push the lead to 24-19 entering the final 11 minutes of the half. The Aces hit six consecutive baskets during the run. After trailing 15-6, UE outscored ISU by an 18-4 margin to take the lead. Over the final minutes of the half, the Aces added their advantage. With 4:18 on the clock, Evansville completed an 8-0 run to go up 35-22. Kaia Berridge knocked down two triples during the stretch.
 
Moeller's third 3-pointer of the half gave the Aces their largest lead at 45-29 inside the final minute before ISU's Landon Moore hit a triple with a second remaining to make it a 45-32 contest at the break. UE shot 63.0% in the first half including 72.7% (8-11) from long range. After opening the game going 4-for-4 from the field, the Redbirds were 7-of-24 for the remainder of the half. Casey led all players with 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.
 
After the Redbirds posted the first basket of the second half, the Aces scored eight in a row to take their largest lead of 19 points at 53-34. Quinet's first triple of the night capped the run while Alex Hemenway hit three free throws. With 16:07 remaining, ISU cut the deficit to 12 points (53-41) before UE extended the lead back to 19 points (66-47) inside the 12-minute mark.
 
As the second half passed its midway point, another run by Illinois State closed the deficit to 10. Two more triples by Moore made it a 70-60 game with 8:33 left. The Aces held strong as they slowly matched the 19-point lead thanks to a pair of Trent Hundley free throws with 3:57 left.
 
Just when it looked like the Aces would cruise to the easy victory holding an 86-67 lead, the Redbirds staged a furious rally. Hitting four consecutive triples, ISU made It an 86-79 game entering the final 90 seconds. UE was able to regroup and finish with the 88-80 victory.
 
The Aces shot a season-high 56.9% while matching its season mark with 14 made triples. Illinois State shot 49.2% in the contest. Evansville shot 55.7% from outside marking the highest percentage UE shot in a game since hitting 80% of its attempts at Bowling Green in 2017. UE completed the night with a 28-27 rebounding advantage. Next up for UE is a road game at Southern Illinois on Thursday evening.