Boxscore

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- This may be the holiday season, but it's also an important part of the basketball season.  The University of Evansville is just one week away from its Missouri Valley Conference opener, and the Aces warmed up for next Saturday's home game against Indiana State with a win over Norfolk State here Saturday afternoon.

Evansville won its fourth game out of the last five with an 80-71 victory over the Spartans to improve to 5-5 in Marty Simmons' first year as head coach.  Norfolk State is now 2-8, but has played only one of its 10 games at home.  Jason Holsinger led the Aces in scoring with a season-high 24 points, Shy Ely added 15 and Darin Granger scored 13 points.

One other highlight Saturday was the return of Evansville forward Victor Gomez, the only senior on the squad.  He suffered a fractured foot in early November, and made his first appearance of the regular season Saturday, totaling four points.

Evansville led by as many as 12 points at 29-17 late in the first half, but Norfolk State battled back and took a five-point lead over the Aces at 56-51 with 7:18 to play.  Granger and Holsinger hit two shots each to put UE ahead for good at 62-59, and the Aces finally pulled away in the last three minutes.

"Our guys put the game in good position in the first half," said Coach Marty Simmons, "but we just haven't been able to sustain that kind of play for 40 minutes, and we didn't today.  Give Norfolk credit.  They battled and scored off offensive rebounds and turnovers.  But Jason and Darin hit some big shots 
for us, and Piet (Pieter van Tongergen) gave us some energy and helped us become more aggressive."

Evansville won the game at the free throw line, outscoring the Spartans 20-9.  The Aces hit 25 of 52 shots for 48.1 percent shooting and NSU hit 27 of 58 for 46.6 percent.

Next Saturday's game against Indiana State is the first of 16 consecutive MVC games for the Aces.