Wright State University
4-4
Evansville
5-1
Men Fall 86-78 at Evansville
12/2/2014 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Wright State men's basketball team could not overcome a 67 percent shooting night by Evansville, 75 percent in the second half, as the Raiders fell to the Purple Aces 86-78 Tuesday night at the Ford Center.
Back-to-back threes from Grant Benzinger tied the score for the fourth time in the first half at 29 with 5:58 remaining, only to see Evansville regain the lead with six straight points. A 7-2 run, capped off by a Steven Davis three, drew the Raiders to within one at the 1:33 mark before two Jaylon Moore free throws in the final minute gave the Purple Aces a 39-36 halftime advantage.
A pair of Davis baskets put WSU up 46-45 early in the second half and five straight Benzinger points gave the Raiders their biggest lead of the night at 51-48 with 15:09 to play.
Evansville, however, followed with an 18-0 run over the next 6:50, eight coming from DJ Balentine, and the margin was 16 before Wright State rallied with a 22-10 run, eight by Joe Thomasson and seven from Davis, to only trail 82-78 with 28 seconds left.
WSU, though, would get no closer as the Purple Aces scored the final four points of the game.
The Raiders shot a strong 51 percent from the field for the game, including 11 of 29 from three-point range, but Evansville was even hotter, shooting 67 percent overall and making 18 of 24 shots in the second half. The Purple Aces led 50-22 in points in the paint.
Thomasson led Wright State with 20 points while Davis had a career-high 18 along with six rebounds. Benzinger added a season-high 18 as he connected on five three-pointers.
Balentine paced all scorers with 28 points for Evansville (5-1) while Egidiju Mockevicius posted a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Wright State (4-4) hosts Urbana Sunday night at 7:00.
