FULLERTON, Calif. – Senior guard D.J. Balentine scored a game-high 23 points and dished out eight assists, and senior forward Egidiju Mockevicius hauled in 21 rebounds to lead a veteran Evansville squad past Santa Clara men's basketball, 69-57, Friday in a consolation game in the DIRECTV Wooden Legacy.

Jared Brownridge, who scored a tournament-record 44 points in Thursday's 75-73 overtime loss to No. 11/10 Arizona, scored a team-high 19 for the Broncos (0-7), but was only able to generate two field goals in the second half after being harassed by the Purple Aces (4-1).

A layup by Emmanuel Ndumanya cut the Evansville lead to 47-43 with 12:00 left in the game, but the Purple Aces scored the seven of the next nine points before a Nate Kratch dunk at 7:15 made it a seven-point edge in a game played at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Gym.

Unfortunately for the Broncos, that was as close as they came the rest of the game.

While the Purples Aces scored seven points, the Broncos went scoreless for nearly four minutes to fall behind 61-47 with 3:19 left on the clock. Balentine posted five points in a 30-second span, scoring on a conventional three-point play and adding a jumper.

Santa Clara shot just 41 percent from the field and only connected on 3 of 15 from behind the 3-pointer line. Evansville hit 47 percent from the floor, including 5 of 14 on 3-pointers.

"Evansville is obviously a very good team" Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating said. "A team I'd expect to be in the NCAA Tournament come March. I've been impressed watching them on the short amount of time.  They had 26 assists on 27 baskets last night, and 21 on 24 tonight.  That's very, very rare in college now days, especially with all this emphasis on new rules."

Balentine, who entered the game averaging 5.8 assists in the first three games, went 9-for-18 from the field, including 2 of 5 from beyond the 3-point line. He also had four rebounds and two steals.

Santa Clara, which played without injured forward Jarvis Pugh (knee) and guard Brendyn Taylor (concussion), forced Evansville into 14 turnovers, but just three in the second half.

Playing against a team that returns all five starters from its 2015 CIT Championship, the Broncos went inside to begin the second half.

Kratch, who had 10 points and eight rebounds, had three of the Broncos first six baskets of the second half. The team's first eight field goals of the final period were scored in the paint.

But the Broncos were 10-for-16 from the free throw line and missed the front end of 3 one-and-ones.

"We just got young guys out there trying to figure it out and survive a little bit after yesterday's emotional high and fell short," Keating said. "Good game by [Evansville].  Disappointed that we didn't shoot it from the free throw line a little bit better that would have given us a chance, but congratulations to Marty and his staff in a hard fought win for them."

The 6-foot-10 Mockevicius helped the Purple Aces hold a 39-30 rebounding advantage. He had 16 defensive rebounds alone.

Brownridge had 13 points in the first half on 4-for-10 shooting from the floor. He matched his career high with seven 3-pointers vs. Arizona, but was just 1-for-4 against the Purple Aces, who had the ability to switch with a starting lineup that features four guards.

"We had a lot of guys, we put a lot of different guys on him," Evansville head coach Marty Simmons said.  "He's an incredible offensive player and an incredible scorer.  What he did last night was pretty phenomenal and I'm sure that his legs had to be a little worn out but we just tried to show a lot of different looks."

Santa Clara fell behind 8-0, but slowly found its way back into the game. KJ Feagin's jumper at 8:08 gave the Broncos their only lead at 16-15.

Kai Healy's 3-pointer from the right corner tied the score at 21-all with 5:06 left in the first half, but the Purple Aces hit three of their last four goal attempts and took a 37-29 lead into the locker room.

The Broncos will face Boston College at 4:30 p.m. Sunday (ESPN3) in their final game of the eight-team tournament. Games the last two days were held at Cal State Fullerton. Sunday's four contests will be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim