Hot-shooting Evansville beats Wright St. 86-78

Dec 2, 2014, 11:27 pm

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- D.J. Balentine scored 28 points and Eqidijus Mockevicius added a career-high 20 as Evansville started hot and got hotter to knock off Wright State 86-78 on Tuesday night.

Evansville made 16 of 27 field goal attempts (59.3 percent) in the first half and improved to 18 of 24 (75 percent) in the final period.

Wright State did not fold as the Raiders hit 15 of 26 field goal attempts (57.7 percent) in the first half but cooled to 14-of-31 shooting (45.2 percent) in the second period.

Trailing 39-36 at the half, Wright State took its biggest lead 51-48 with 15:09 remaining when Grant Benzinger made five straight points. However, Evansville answered with an 18-0 run, with Balentine scoring eight, to lead 66-51 with 8:19 remaining.

Mockevicius also had 11 rebounds for Evansville (5-1).

Joe Thomasson led Wright State (4-4) with 20, Benzinger and Steven Davis chipped in 18 each.