UE Men’s Basketball Advances to CIT Semifinals

Led by a 35-point outing from DJ Balentine, the University of Evansville Purple Aces Basketball team got past Louisiana-Lafayette Tuesday night to advance to the College Insider.com Tournament semifinals against University of Tennessee-Martin.

In a press release provided by the UE Athletic Department, Coach Marty Simmons credited the 89-82 win as a "great team effort" which saw three other players other than Balentine score double digits as Jaylon Moore and Adam Wing both scored 12, while Mislav Brzoja added another 10 and a team-best nine rebounds.

Despite the stats, it wasn't an easy win for UE as Louisiana took a 27-26 lead midway through the opening half after a 14-8 run, then another with just over five minutes remaining to make it a one-point game at 32-31. A 12-5 run to close out the half gave the Aces a 44-37 lead going into halftime.

Following the break, UE struggled to score in the opening minutes of the second half until Egidius Mockevicius knocked down a free throw to extend the Aces' lead to eight.

Proving they still had some fight left in them, UL-Lafayette went on a 7-0 run midway through the second half to cut the Aces' lead to one with a score of 51-50. However it was a short-lived rally as DJ Balentine followed up with his fourth three point basket of the night, and Brojza hit another from outside to give the team a 59-51 lead.

Balentine stepped up again a few minutes later to put an end to another Louisiana rally that cut the Aces' lead to two when he hit four more baskets to put UE up 65-59 with eight minutes left.

UE continued to lead and added to it, taking its largest lead of the game with 1:44 left as Adam Wing moved into double figures to put the Aces up 82-72. That was enough to clinch the 89-82 win.

The Aces will host University of Tennessee-Martin on Tuesday inside the Ford Center. Tip-off time to be determined.

The University of Evansville Athletic Department contributed to this report.