University of Evansville Advances to CIT Championship Game

The Purple Aces will play in, and host, the CIT championship game this Thursday at the Ford Center!

Another total team effort saw the University of Evansville men’s basketball team defeat UT Martin by a final of 79-66 Tuesday night at the Ford Center. Now the Purple Aces advance to the CollegeInsider.com Championship game on Thursday. The foe for the Purple Aces will be Northern Arizona, who defeated NJIT by a final of 68-61 in their semifinal game on Tuesday.

Game time on Thursday will be 6 p.m. Tickets will remain at $15 for Thursday’s game while youth tickets (under 17) are just $5. They are available beginning at 8 a.m. at the Carson Center Ticket office and through Ticketmaster. Fans may also purchase tickets at the Ford Center Box Office beginning at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Season ticket holders who provided payment for their seats will also have their tickets available beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday. For more information, call 812-488-ACES.

D.J. Balentine was the top scorer for Evansville (23-12) once again, scoring a game-high 28 points on a 10-of-16 shooting day. His efforts from outside also continued to hold strong as he hit four of his seven triples. Adam Wing had one of his best games of the season, knocking down his first seven shots of the night on his way to 16 points.

Blake Simmons also had a stellar outing, setting his career mark with seven assists while scoring 13 points. His seven helpers led an onslaught that saw UE register 23 assists on 32 makes while finishing the night shooting 57.1%.

UT Martin (21-13) finished one of its best seasons in school history. Following an 8-win campaign last season, the Skyhawks had one of the top five turnarounds in the nation. They held strong on Tuesday thanks to sharp shooting from 3-point range. They drained 13 out of 27 triples.

Deville Smith was responsible for six of those shots from outside. He finished with a team-best 18 points. Tymond Howard posted 17 points and 10 rebounds while Alex Anderson had 15 tallies, 12 of which coming from the long ball.

Six lead changes took place in the first 12 minutes of the game. UT Martin utilized the 3-ball while the Aces were working down low, posting 26 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes of the game. Six of the first nine makes for the Skyhaws came from outside. The fifth of which gave them a 21-20 lead with 9:24 remaining in the opening frame. That would be their last lead of the game.

A triple by Balentine put the lead back in the hands of the Aces before a Terrence Durham layup knotted the game up at 28-28 with 5:45 left. That is where the Aces made a game-changing run. Over the final minutes of the half, UE outscored UTM by an 18-6 margin to head into the break, up 46-34. At one point, UE hit seven shots in a row. That streak helped them finish the first half shooting 65.5% (19/29).

Out of the break, that run continued. Evansville scored the next 12 points over the first four minutes of the second half to open up a 58-34 advantage. Back-to-back three’s by Balentine capped off the run. A Javier Martinez tip in at the 15:36 mark were the Skyhawk’s first points of the second half.

UT Martin continued to shoot well from outside. Those efforts helped them get within 12 points at 71-59 with just under seven minutes to go. The Aces were able to withstand the rally and take the 79-66 win.

Duane Gibson set his season mark with 8 assists while Egidijus Mockevicius and Mislav Brzoja led the Aces with 7 rebounds apiece as the Aces won the rebounding battle, 30-27.