Recap: Northern Iowa vs. Evansville

Cedar Rapids, IA (Sports Network) - Colt Ryan's 21 points helped spring the Evansville Purple Aces over the Northern Iowa Panthers for a 62-59 victory in a Missouri Valley Conference matchup at the McLeod Center.

Ryan led all scorers and knocked down a couple three-pointers in the win for Evansville (10-6, 3-1 MVC), which has now won three in a row. Troy Taylor added 11 points and seven rebounds.

For Northern Iowa (8-8, 1-3), Anthony James scored 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting including a 1-of-7 mark from three-point range, as the Panthers took their third loss in four games. James was the only UNI player in double- figures but Seth Tuttle put together a solid performance with nine points, eight rebounds, two blocks, and two steals.

Evansville led 32-25 at halftime after holding the Panthers to 32.1 percent shooting in the first half while hitting 48.1 percent of its own field goal attempts.

UNI fought back strong in the second half and outscored the Purple Aces 34-30. After a made jumper by James with 53 seconds left, the Panthers were on top 57-55. Evansville responded as Lewis Jones took the ball to the hoop to a score. Jones drew contact on his late layup and completed the three-point play to put the Purple Aces up, 58-57. After UNI failed to answer, Ryan was sent to the line and made both attempts to put Evansville up by three. James made a layup to cut UNI's deficit to just one but Cox would make two more free-throws for the Aces to increase to return the margin to three points. James tried to force overtime with a final three-point shot from deep, but it was off the mark and Ryan grabbed the rebound to clinch the win.

The even matched bout was reflected in the rebounding battle, as both teams pulled down 31 boards in the thriller.