Final Score (W-L)           1   2   F
Bradley (2-14, 0-3 MVC)    18  17  35
Evansville (13-3, 2-1 MVC) 36  31  67
Attendance: 5,873 | Officials: Rick Hartzell, Dwayne Gladden and Daniel Chrisman

New Starting Lineup
After using the same starting lineup for each of the previous six games, Bradley made two changes to the first five, inserting Ronnie Suggs for Donte Thomas and Scottie James for Callum Barker. Barker had started each of the season's first 16 games, leaving Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye as the only player to start all 17 games this season. Saturday's game also marked the second time this season Bradley started five freshmen.

Youthful PT
With senior guard Ka'Darryl Bell unavailable for the second straight game with a right hand fracture, Bradley played the entire game with at least four freshmen on the floor. Bradley has now played 557-minutes, 30-seconds of the season's 690 minutes (80.8 percent) with at least four freshmen on the court together. Bradley also played 20-minutes, 30-seconds of the game's 40 minutes with five freshmen on the court as sophomore forward Donte Thomas is the team's only other non-freshman on the active roster.

Evansville Quick Start
Evansville started quick, taking an 8-0 lead into the first media timeout with 15:57 left in the opening half. The Braves missed their first six field goal attempts, while Evansville started 2-for-4 from the floor and 3-for-6 at the free throw line in the opening segment. Antoine Pittman ended the opening drought by burying a 3-pointer on the inbounds play coming out of the break, but while Bradley was starting 2-for-14 from the floor, Evansville made seven of its first 11 field goal attempts to stretch the lead to 21-6.

Saturday Leaders
Sophomore forward Donte Thomas led the Braves with 11 points in his reserve role, while Scottie James and Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye shared Bradley's team-high honors with five rebounds apiece. D.J. Balentine scored a game-high 16 points to pace three Evansville players in double-figures. Jaylon Brown added 14 points and Blake Simmons chipped in with 13. Egidijus Mockevicius snared a game-high eight rebounds for the Purple Aces.

First-Half Stats
Evansville took a 36-18 lead into halftime, thanks in part to D.J. Balentine's contested, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the period. Bradley shot just 6-for-16 (.231) from the field in the first half, compared to 11-of-20 (.555) for the Purple Aces. Balentine led all scorers at the break with 13 points, while Antoine Pittman led the Braves with six first-half points. Bradley went into the locker room with as many players with two personal fouls, seven, as Evansville's team total.

Holding the Stars in Check
Evansville came into the game boasting the nation's active career scoring leader, D.J. Balentine, and the nation's season rebounding leader, Egidijus Mockevicius (14.5 rpg). Although Balentine scored a game-high 16 points, it was more than five below his league-leading scoring average of 21.1 ppg. A double-double machine, Mockevicius finished with five points and eight rebounds.

Up Next
Bradley will return to the road Wednesday for a 6 p.m. game at Missouri Valley Conference rival Loyola Chicago. Wednesday's game will be televised by the MVC-TV Network and will be available for viewing on both FOX Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Evansville will stay at home, but will have a shorter turnaround, hosting Drake in a 7 p.m. game Tuesday at Ford Center.