Boxscore

CEDAR FALLS, IOWA -- A fifth place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference and a #6 seed in next week's State Farm MVC Tournament was the result Saturday night, as league co-champion Northern Iowa (20-10, 14-4) held off the Aces 69-62.

Evansville (17-12, 8-10) ends up in a three-way tie for fifth place, with #5 seed Southern Illinois and #7 seed Wichita State.   The Aces will take on #3 Illinois State (22-8, 11-7) Friday at 8:30 in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals at the Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis.

Tickets for the State Farm MVC Tournament are available through the UE ticket office at (812) 488-ACES, or by logging on to mvc-sports.com.  First round games, involving the seventh through 10th place finishers, take place Thursday night.  The four quarterfinal games are Friday, beginning at 12 noon.  The two semifinals take place Saturday afternoon, and the championship game is next Sunday.

Evansville made a big second half comeback Saturday, cutting the Panthers' lead to 58-55 in the last four minutes after trailing 50-29 early in the second half.  But UNI scored the next four points and UE couldn't get closer than five to close out the game.  MVC scoring leader Shy Ely led all scorers with 26 points.