EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri State made a late run at home standing Evansville here Saturday, but couldn’t overcome a sizable road deficit, falling to the Aces, 72-63, in the men’s basketball regular-season finale here Saturday.
Evansville (9-15, 7-11 MVC) knocked down a dozen 3-pointers, compared to just one triple by the Bears on the night, to keep Missouri State at arm’s length most of the game. The Purple Aces got five 3-pointers from Evan Kuhlman and four more from Shamar Givance to help UE build an 18-point lead with 5:27 to go.
Missouri State, whose seven-game win streak was snapped in the loss, turned up the defensive intensity late, got within eight twice and later pulled within 69-63 on a bucket from Darian Scott with 10 seconds to go. However, Evansville extended the final margin after that by firing in a 30-footer at the buzzer in lieu of running out the clock.
Givance led the Aces with 22 points and 7 rebounds, while Jawaun Newton added 20, and Kuhlman scored 17.
The Bears were led by Isiaih Mosley’s 22 points, while Gaige Prim pumped in 17 points and 6 rebounds. Demarcus Sharp also tacked on 13 points and 6 rebounds for MSU, which dropped just its second road contest of the 2020-21 campaign.
Missouri State was just 1-for-7 from 3-point range (.143) but held its own in nearly every other statistical category, including a 34-26 rebounding advantage.
In the first half, Evansville dropped in six 3-pointers and scored at the buzzer on a layup by Newton to lead 38-30 at the midway point. Missouri State had trimmed an 11-point deficit to five in the final minute before the break on a pair of layups from Sharp and a trey by Ja’Monta Black, but a Givance triple and Newton’s buzzer beater pushed the home side ahead by eight on UE’s senior night.
The Bears started the second half with buckets by Mosley and Prim to get within 38-34, but a subsequent 11-0 run by Evansville over the next three minutes proved to be the difference. UE got two treys from Newton and one from Kuhlman in that span, and the Bears would be unable to whittle their deficit to single digits the rest of the half until Sharp’s hook shot with 2:18 remaining made it 67-59.
Missouri State had 46 points in the paint and finished 25-of-54 (.463) overall from the field while converting 12-for-15 (.800) at the line with nine turnovers.
For the game, Evansville was 26-of-51 (.510) overall, 12-for-24 (.500) from long range and 8-of-15 (.533) at the line with seven mishaps.
Next up for Missouri State is the 2021 State Farm MVC Tournament in St. Louis. The Bears are the No. 3 seed and will square off with No. 6 Valparaiso (10-17, 7-11 MVC) on Friday at 8 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
