(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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Flooding, lightning strikes, etc. have cost @RacersHoops two home games. Had to play 'neutral site' tonight instead of at home and Wednesday's goes from home to away. Tough break for the Racers, and the whole area has been hit with difficulties. #FatherHarry
Murray State's scheduled home game Wednesday vs. Southern Illinois being moved to Banterra Center in Carbondale. #ValleyHoops
Gigantic game for @BradleyUMBB today in Des Moines. If they have a chance to catch @DrakeBulldogsMB, they have to win today. The Bulldogs can basically win the title today. @BustingBrackets breaks it all down. #FatherHarry https://bit.ly/3EGiVgi
Not rooting for any particular @ValleyHoops, but chaos is always fun. If things break certain ways, after today there could be a six-way tie for fifth place.
Fun to listen to @MLBLarry on the @SIU_Basketball/@BelmontMBB game tonight. Good job brother. #FatherHarry
