GAME NOTES: The Evansville Purple Aces look to keep their perfect record intact as they battle the Fresno State Bulldogs in the first round of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Germain Arena on Monday.

The Purple Aces, of the Missouri Valley Conference, are 2-0 on the young season with wins over Earlham to open the campaign and then Miami-Ohio, 69-50, in the team's most recent confrontation.

Fresno State has sunk a bit with two losses sandwiching a win over Bristol University. The Bulldogs are coming off a defeat at the hands of Northern Arizona, 73-52, which dropped the team below .500.

This contest will mark the fourth time these two programs have clashed on the court. Evansville owns a 2-1 all-time series lead, with the most recent meeting going to Fresno State back in the 1972-73 season.

Evansville got an extremely strong all-round shooting performance against Miami-Ohio in the team's latest win, as the Purple Aces connected on 57.1 percent of their attempts from the field. Dangerous scorer D.J. Balentine led Evansville in the contest with 19 points, while big man Egidijus Mockevicius notched a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Blake Simmons rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Purple Aces with 12 points in the win. The team's defense, which was not a strong point for the squad in 2013-14, held the RedHawks to 39.6 percent shooting for the game.

Balentine is already up to his old scoring tricks, leading the Evansville roster with a 20.5 ppg margin on 45.5 percent shooting. What makes him not just a pure scorer is his ability to pass the ball. In two games, he ranks second on the team with eight assists - one behind team leader Duane Gibson. Mockevicius adds 16.5 ppg and a team-best 8.5 rpg, and Mislav Brzoja contributes 12.0 ppg as the last of the three team double-digit scorers. Evansville is netting 92.5 ppg as a unit.

Fresno State let things slip through its hands pretty quickly in the first half, as the Bulldogs allowed Northern Arizona to shoot 59.1 percent in the frame and take a 39-23 lead at halftime. Fresno State connected on just 37.2 percent of its field goal tries in the entire game, and Julien Lewis's 12 points was the team high. Lewis scored 12 with five rebounds, while Marvelle Harris and Karachi Edo each chipped in with 11 points for the Bulldogs in the loss.

Through three games, Lewis paces the Bulldogs with a 16.0 ppg average on 44.4 percent shooting from the field. He's the leading scorer on a Fresno State team that averages 73.0 ppg, but also allows 72.3 ppg to opponents. Harris enters the game against Evansville netting 14.3 ppg for second on the squad, while Paul Watson chips in with 13.0 ppg. Edo rounds out the double-digit Bulldogs scorers with 10.3 ppg. Harris's 5.3 rpg average and 11 total assists are both team highs.

The Bulldogs have some work to do if they want to start to climb the ladder back toward success. Evansville has a tough situation in a Missouri Valley Conference that is lorded over by Wichita State, but the Purple Aces have built up enough of a scoring mechanism that the team should compete. The Aces' offense could stun Fresno State.