Boxscore

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Ned Cox's scoring and Troy Taylor's defense kept Evansville close in the first half, but Missouri State's 11-2 spurt to begin the second half made the difference here Friday night.  The result was MSU's sixth straight victory and 17th straight homecourt victory in a 65-50 win over the Purple Aces.  

The Bears are 12-3 overall and in first place with a 4-0 record in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Evansville is 7-7 and 1-3.  The Aces are back home Sunday at 3:35 CST to play the Creighton Bluejays, following the UE women's game against Drake at 1:00.

Cox's seven first half points and Taylor's three steals in the first half kept the Aces within one at the half, 29-28, but the Bears scored 11 of the first 13 points in the second half to go ahead 40-30 and eventually stretched the advantage to 61-43 in the final four minutes.

Cox was Evansville's only double-figure scorer, with 10 points on 5-for-10 shooting.  Kenneth Harris added eight points, and Taylor finished with seven points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals.  The Bears held the Aces scoreless from three-point range, and held leading scorer Colt Ryan to seven points.  It was only the third time this season that Ryan did not reach double figures.

Kyle Weems led Missouri State's balanced attack with 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Freshman Nathan Sheer came into the game averaging 3.9 points but finished with 14 on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc, and Jermaine Mallett scored 11 points.