Boxscore

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Big Will Creekmore was more than Evansville could handle in the second half here Wednesday night.  The 6-9 junior scored six points during an 8-0 run early in the second half, and Missouri State held off the Aces 76-66.

The win improved the Bears to 15-6 overall and 5-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Evansville is 6-14 and 0-10.

Evansville never led in the first half, and trailed by as many as eight points, but the Aces were down by only three at halftime, 32-29, behind the 10 points of Clint Hopf and five each by James Haarsma and Denver Holmes.  Then Creekmore took control, scoring six of the Bears' eight points to turn a 34-31 MSU lead to 42-31 with 14 minutes to go.  The Aces cut the deficit to five on three different occasions, the latest in the final 65 seconds on a free throw by Holmes, but that's as close as Evansville could get in suffering its 11th straight loss.

Creekmore hit 7 of 12 shots in scoring 20 points, and also grabbed eight rebounds.  Jermaine Mallett added 14 for the Bears.  Freshman Troy Taylor scored a career-high 12 for the Aces, hitting four of six shots and all four free throws.  Holmes and Colt Ryan scored 11 each and Hopf added 10.  Haarsma added nine points and 11 rebounds.

Missouri State grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to Evansville's 11, and as a result had a 23-7 advantage in second chance points.

The Aces return to Roberts Stadium Sunday for a 2:05 CST game against the Sycamores of Indiana State.