EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Led by 28 points from Gaige Prim and 20 from Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State overcame 16 3-pointers from home standing Evansville on its senior night to secure an 88-79 road win here Saturday and close out the regular season with their 22nd victory.
The Bears (22-9, 13-5 MVC) shot 50.9 percent from the field and converted 25-of-29 (.862) free throws to pull away from the pesky Aces late. Mosley also paced MSU on the glass with 11 rebounds to earn his fourth double-double of the season and help the Bears to a 38-27 rebounding advantage.
Ja’Monta Black also added three triples and 15 points for Missouri State.
Evansville led for just 31 seconds but stayed within single-digits of the lead most of the afternoon. Consecutive 3-pointers from Blaise Beauchamp gave the Aces (6-23, 2-16) a brief 57-56 lead with 8:22 to play.
Moments later, Evansville’s Evan Kuhlman picked up his fourth foul and then a technical, which gave MoState four free throws. The Bears made three of them and never trailed again.
After a basket by Shamar Givance on UE’s next trip tied the game, the Bears reeled off 9 unanswered points and never looked back. Later, a put-back by Donovan Clay would give MoState an 11-point lead with 3:31 to go, and Ja’Monta’ Black’s three at the 2:54 mark made it a 78-66 game for the Bears’ biggest lead of the night.
Down the stretch, the Bears made 7 straight free throws to clinch it and leave the scene with a nine-point road win.
It gave the Bears their sixth conference road win of the year, their 13th league victory for the first time since 2011 and 22nd overall win, also a team high-water mark since 2011.
Prim finished 10-for-15 from the field for his 15th straight double-figure scoring game and his seventh 20-point effort in nine games.
Evansville was 16-for-33 (.485) from 3-point range, marking a season-high for threes by a Bears opponent, including 11 in the second half. The Aces were also 24-for-55 (.436) overall and 15-for-22 (.682) and the line.
Givance’s 20 points led the Aces, while Beauchamp added 18, and Noah Frederking scored 17 for the home side.
In the first half, the Bears never trailed and led by as many as 10 on two occasions. Prim scored six of the team’s final eight points of the stanza to finish with 10 in the period and help MSU lead 37-29 at the intermission.
Earlier, a free throw by Dawson Carper capped a 7-0 Bears tun to give the visitors a 21-11 lead less than nine minutes into the game. Evansville would close the gap to six twice, both on 3-pointers, but the Bears kept climbing and built their lead to 37-27 on a Prim layup with 43 seconds left before the half.
The Bears will now prepare for a St. Louis getaway next week with Arch Madness commencing at the Enterprise Center on Thursday. As a result of UNI’s win over Loyola for the conference title, the Bears earned the No. 2 seed for the State Farm MVC Tournament and will play the winner of the 7-10 game (Valparaiso vs. Evansville) on Friday at 6 p.m. Tickets and other tournament information is available at ArchMadness.com.
