ST. LOUIS, Mo.—A pair of lengthy scoring droughts proved to be too much to overcome for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team on Thursday night, as the seventh-seeded Missouri State University Bears put an end to the 2007-08 UE men’s basketball season with a 69-46 victory over UE in the first round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

 

Evansville and Missouri State battled back and forth for the game’s opening eight minutes, as UE trailed by just one point, 12-11, on a Darin Granger free throw with 12:22 to play. The Bears would score the game’s next 14 points though to grab a 26-11 lead, as the Purple Aces would not score again until 5:36 left before the half, when junior forward Shy Ely connected on a three-pointer off a Jason Holsinger assist.

 

MSU senior Deven Mitchell would score 12 of his team-high 16 points to help the Bears build a 35-24 halftime lead. Another lengthy scoring drought by UE would do in the Purple Aces for good out of the halftime locker room, as Missouri State scored the first 13 points of the second half to build a 48-24 lead. The deficit would be too much to overcome for UE as Missouri State (17-15) advances on to Friday’s quarterfinal match-up with second-seeded Illinois State.

 

Mitchell led all scorers with 16 points and seven boards for Missouri State, while freshman guard Kavon Lacey continued his strong stretch run for UE by equaling his season-high with 13 points. Granger also chipped in eight points off of the UE bench, while Ely tossed in seven points.

 

Evansville concludes the 2007-08 season with a 9-21 overall record. UE will return 10 of its top 11 scorers next season, as the Purple Aces graduate just two men: Victor Gomez and Trent Wargel.