Boxscore

Evansville kept coming back, but Northern Iowa kept making the crucial buckets, and the result was a 71-68 UNI victory at Roberts Stadium Saturday night to end the regular season.  That means the Aces will take on the Missouri State Bears on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in the first round of the State Farm MVC Tournament at St. Louis, Mo.

The loss spoiled Senior Night in which Victor Gomez and Trent Wargel were honored, and leaves UNI at 17-13 overall and 9-9 in the MVC.  Evansville finished the regular season at 9-20 overall and 3-15 in the Valley.

Down 53-46 with less than 10 minutes to go, the Aces chipped away and took the lead at 59-58 with 5:32 remaining on a pair of Gomez free throws.  But that was the last lead of the game for Evansville as UNI jumped back in front 65-59 on Travis Brown's three-pointer.  Evansville still kept it close and trailed by only one point in the final minute, 66-65, but Jason Holsinger's three-pointer with six seconds remaining was the lone bucket down the stretch, and wasn't enough to bring the lead back to the Aces.

Sophomore Darin Granger scored a career-high 26 points, and Shy Ely chipped in 18.  UNI put three players in double figures, including 20 from Adam Koch, 15 from Eric Coleman and 14 from Brown.  The Panthers shot 56 percent, compared to Evansville's 39 percent.