Boxscore

VALPARAISO, Ind. -- The Aces keep getting better, but not quickly enough to end Valparaiso's winning streak.  The 9-1 Crusaders won their seventh in a row tonight, 75-67 over the 3-5 University of Evansville Purple Aces.

Jason Holsinger's 11 first half points helped Evansville grab nine-point leads three times, the latest at the 3:29 mark of the first half when Nate Garner scored inside to give UE a 30-21 advantage.  But the Crusaders scored the final nine points of the first half to tie it up 30-30 at the break.  Evansville still led by five points at 52-47 with 11 minutes to go, but Valpo took over from there and outscored the Aces 13-3 over the next six minutes. 

Valparaiso ended up outscoring Evansville 20-7 from the free throw line.

"I was proud of our guys because they did a lot of good things," Coach Marty Simmons said, "but Valparaiso sustained their concentration and execution longer than we did.  They're good.  They have depth and play a quick tempo.  They showed that we have to be much more aggressive attacking the rim."

Shy Ely led UE with 17 points, and Holsinger and Pieter van Tongeren added 14 each.  That was a career high for van Tongeren, the 6-11 freshman center.  Samuel Haanpaa led Valparaiso with 20 points, 17 of which came in the second half.

Tuesday's contest was the final road game of December for Evansville.   The Aces play at home in the final three Saturdays of this month, beginning Saturday against Hanover at 7:05.