Feb. 10, 2015 Final Stats
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Missouri State gave one of its best road efforts of the season here Tuesday, but home standing Evansville made its free throws down the stretch to hang on for a 73-66 win over the Bears in a classic Missouri Valley Conference clash.
The Bears (9-16, 3-10 MVC) were led by Camyn Boone with a career-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, while Chris Kendrix added 13 - all in the second half - and Gavin Thurman contributed 12 points and a career-high 9 rebounds. Thurman's rebound total was also a game high.
Evansville (17-8, 7-6), which overcome 13 ties and 8 lead changes from the visitors, got 20 points from D.J. Balentine and 17 from Adam Wing to snap a three-game Valley skid.
After Thurman gave the Bears a 51-50 lead with 11:36 to go on a short jumper off the glass, Missouri State went the next 10 minutes without a field goal, while Evansville responded with a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to lead 59-51.
A three-point play by Balentine with three-and-a-half minutes to play pushed the home side up 66-57, its biggest of the night, MSU responded with a quick 5-0 outburst. Kendrix hit a foul shot, Boone scored up close with 1:22 on the clock and Loomis Gerring knocked down a 17-footer with 47 ticks to play.
After Blake Simmons made one of two at the line on Evansville's next trip, Shawn Roundtree responded with a quick bucket in traffic for MSU to make it a 67-64 game with 28.3 seconds to play.
But the Purple Aces made all six free throws from there and nullified a late layup by Boone that briefly made it 69-66 at the 17-second mark.
MSU finished 24-of-50 (.480) from the field, its fourth-best shooting effort of the season, while converting 3-of-11 (.273) from beyond the arc and 15-of-21 (.714) at the line with a commanding 36-21 rebounding edge.
Roundtree dished out 6 assists and played all 40 minutes for the second straight game with Dorrian Williams still sidelined with concussion symptoms.
The Aces capitalized on 15 Bears' turnovers with 22 points, while the Bears scored no points off three Evansville turnovers. The Aces finished 24-of-51 (.471) from the field, 4-of-15 (.267) from long range and 21-of-27 (.778) at the stripe.
The Bears couldn't have asked for a better start, firing at an even 50-percent clip from the field in the first half to go into the break tied at 30.
Evansville jumped out to a 15-10 lead 8 minutes into the contest, but Thurman squelched that with his second trey of the night, and moments later Boone converted his second "and-one" opportunity of the half to get the Bears back within 17-16.
Mislav Brzoja hit a short jumper on the Aces' next possession, but Missouri State reeled off six unanswered points and eventually closed out a 10-3 run with a Boone layup to lead 26-22 with 3:33 left in the opening period.
Gerring and Tyler McCullough both scored go-ahead buckets for Missouri State just before the half, but Evansville knotted the score for the sixth time on a pair of controversial free throws by Adam Wing with 32 seconds to go.
The Bears will return to JQH Arena to begin a two-game Valley home stand on Sunday at 3 p.m. against first-place Northern Iowa (22-2, 11-1). The UNI game will be televised nationally on ESPNU and is a part of Athletics Hall of Fame Day at Missouri State. Tickets are available at MissouriStateBears.com or by phone at (417) 836-7678 during regular hours at the MSU Athletics Box Office at JQH Arena.
