(Evansville, IN) – Evansville is playing for a postseason basketball championship. Their dominating offensive display buried a good UT-Martin team 79-66 and the Purple Aces now host Northern Arizona in the College Insider.com Tournament championship game on Thursday.
Evansville was superior athletically and ran their motion offense with great precision. A 9-0 run late in the first half opened a 46-34 half time lead, and then Marty Simmons’ team scored the first 12 points of the second stanza to blow the game open.
UTM finishes the season with a record of 21-13 and their first Division 1 postseason experience. They went 3-1 in the CIT.
Evansville (23-12) shot 57.1 % for the game and handed out an outstanding 23 assists. Head Coach Marty Simmons said his team is continuing to grow with these late season games.
D. J. Balentine led the way with 28 points, but teammates Adam Wing and Blake Simmons did their part. Simmons set a career high with seven assists while scoring 13 points. Wing added 16 points.
Balentine said the Purple Aces are growing in confidence and working hard in practice.
MVC comrade Loyola (23-13) won the opening game of the best-of-three championship series of the College Basketball Invitational, and plays at Louisiana-Monroe tonight, giving the Missouri Valley Conference a legitimate shot at two postseason titles.
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.@SEMOMBB wins at home and is 2-0, tied with @MSUEaglesMBB atop the @OVCSports. Our prayers are with the @LRTrojans after the death of one of their managers Josh Claxton. Their game with EIU was postponed today.
Good officiating in the @SEMOMBB/@SIUEMBB in a little late game dust up.
BTW, @LindenwoodWBB is 2-0. @CoachAmyEagan has that program headed the right direction.
With @SkyhawkHoops winning on the road and @LUMensBball winning at home, right now, 5 @OVCSports teams are 1-1.
