ESTERO, Fla. -- USF received career highs from Mark Tollefsen and Matt Glover but still fell to Evansville, 79-72 in the consolation game of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Germain Arena.

The loss drops the Dons record to 3-2 while the Aces improve to 4-1 on the season.

Tollefsen scored 23 points while Glover added 20 in the loss, the Dons second straight after opening the season with three consecutive wins. Tim Derksen (12) and Kruize Pinkins (10) also reached double figures for the Dons.

D.J. Balentine scored 23 points to pace the Aces, while Egidiju Mockevicius added 14 points and 14 rebounds.

USF shot 42.5 percent from the field and held a slight advantage on the boards, 39-35. The Aces shot 50.8 percent from the floor.

The Dons led just twice in the game, 7-6 and 24-23 in the first half.

After taking a 39-34 lead into the break, the Aces quickly upped their lead to 11 with a 8-2 run to start he second half. Evansville led by as many as 13 points on two occasions in the second half, last at 69-56 with 4:13 left.

The Dons got the lead under 10 points on a Tim Derksen layup that made the score 69-61 with 2:48 remaining.

With the Aces leading by nine at 73-64 with 1:35 left, back-to-back baskets by Tollefsen cut the lead down to five at 73-68 with 1:10 showing on the clock.

But the Aces broke the Dons pressure for layups by Mislav Brzoja and Blake Simmons which boosted the lead back to nine at 77-68 with :36 left, leading to the 79-72 victory.

USF will return home to Memorial Gymnasium Sunday afternoon to play host to the Montana Grizzlies beginning at 3:00 p.m.

Rex Walters Post-Game Comments

Evansville is a very good team and unfortunately we were the fourth best team in this tournament this week."

"They run that Indiana, down-home motion offense and run it very well. They understand their roles and screen very well for each other. It was a lesson. They exposed our lack of physicality which is good - we need to know that. If you think Evansville is physcial, wait until we play Gonzaga and BYU. Hopefully we can learn and grow from this because we have a long way to go. It was a great preparation game for us to understand what it takes to be succcessful in the WCC."

"Tollefsen and Glover were really good tonight. For the second game in a row, Kruize got into a little foul trouble in the first half and never got going. Matt is a guy who will try to will you to victories and I feel really fortunate to coach him. His will to win is as good as any player I've coached. Mark had to post up a lot tonight and he wanted the ball and he produced."



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