Evansville cruises to 80-65 win over Southeast Missouri St.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) D.J. Balentine scored 20 points and dished out six assists to help lead Evansville to an 80-65 win over Southeast Missouri State on Sunday.

Egidijus Mockevicius added 18 points while grabbing 14 rebounds and Mislav Brzoja had 16 points and 12 boards in the season opener for Evansville, which hit 24 of 54 from the field (44 percent) and controlled the glass 47-30.

After a close first half, the Purple Aces broke it open with a 15-2 run that included Brzoja's 3-pointer and was capped by a pair of free throws from Balentine to make it 72-54 with 6:40 to play.

Trailing 44-36 at the break, Southeast Missouri State (0-2) opened the half with an 8-2 run to close the gap to 2 points, but it was as close as the Redhawks would get the rest of the way.

Joel Angus III led Southeast Missouri State with 18 points and seven rebounds.