SPRINGFIELD – Michael Osei-Bonsu led four Missouri State players in double-figures with 16 points and 7 rebounds to help lead the Bears past visiting Evansville, 71-54, here Wednesday in Missouri Valley Conference play.

Missouri State (9-17, 2-13 MVC), which never trailed, also got 15 points from Vincent Brady II, 10 from Dez White and 10 more from Logan Epes off the bench. In his return to the starting lineup, Wesley Oba added 9 points and a game-high 9 rebounds to the winning cause.

The Bears shot 51 percent from the field – their fifth game making at least half of their field goal attempts over their last seven contests – and forced 14 Evansville turnovers.

Chase Martin's free throw with 7:22 left in the first half gave Missouri State a double-digit lead for the first time in the game, 23-13. For the rest of the night, every time Evansville (9-17, 6-9 MVC) made a run, the Bears responded with a counter-punch.

Back-to-back triples from Epes in the last two minutes of the opening half stretched MSU's lead from seven to 13 (26-13) in a flash and ultimately led to the Bears leading by 10 at the intermission.

In the second half, White's trey with 13:36 to play in the game gave MSU its largest lead of the night, 49-30, before UE embarked on a 14-7 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes. A traditional three-point play from Tanner Cuff made it a 56-44 contest at the 9:06 mark, but the Bears answered on a layup by Brady, a tip-in by Osei-Bonsu and later on a three from Brady that stretched MoState's lead back to 16.

Down the stretch, it was Epes who answered the call again, knocking down his third 3-pointer of the night from the right corner after a 4-1 run by the Aces had whittled the Bears' advantage to 13. Brady then scored on an offensive rebound and put-back with less than two minutes to go to push the home club ahead by 18 and secure its second Valley win in four tries.

Comer led three Evansville players in double figures with 17 points with Connor Turnbull scoring 13, and Gabriel Pozzato adding 12 for the visitors 

MoState finished 26-of-51 from the field overall and made 9-of-23 (.391) three-point attempts. The Bears were also 10-for-19 (.526) at the line with a narrow 31-30 rebounding advantage.

Evansville was 22-of-51 (.431) overall, 5-for-20 (.250) from distance and 5-for-14 (.357) at the foul line.

After a two-game road swing at UIC (Sunday) and Valparaiso (Wednesday), the Bears are back at Great Southern Bank Arena on Saturday, Feb. 22 for a 7 p.m. Senior Day contest against Illinois State. 

Tickets for the Illinois State game, and both remaining home games, are available at MissouriStateBears.com/tickets or through the Missouri State box office at Great Southern Bank Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.