EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- It's never easy to win on the road in the ultra-competitive Missouri Valley Conference, especially when the game is at your oldest rival. The Sycamores led for the better part of the game and held on late for a thrilling 71-66 win over Evansville in front of 3,601 fans inside Ford Center.

ISU won at Evansville for the first time since 2014 and improved to 9-10, 4-3 MVC. The Purple Aces, who were 10-1 at home heading into this game, fell to 12-8, 2-5 MVC. The win was the 90th all-time for the Sycamores over Evansville -- now tied with Eastern Illinois for the most victories against one opponent in the history of the program. There is now a three-way tie at 5-2 for the MVC lead between Drake, Loyola and Missouri State, but the Sycamores are just one game behind the pack tied with Saturday's opponent, Illinois State at 4-3.

For head coach Greg Lansing, it was his 69th Missouri Valley Conference victory -- tying him with Royce Waltman for the most MVC wins by a head coach in the history of the program. It was also his 36th road victory in his career and the 129th of his career -- now just five behind Waltman for second on the ISU head coaching wins list. 

Jordan Barnes continued his strong scoring streak by leading the way with 17 points. He hit a trio of 3-pointers as well as free throws down the stretch. Qiydar Davis returned after a two-game absence due to Illness to score 12 off the bench while Brenton Scott added 14 and Tyreke Key posted 10. ISU owned a 43-35 edge on the glass and were led by nine each from Key and Brandon Murphy. Murphy narrowly missed a double-double as he had nine points in the contest and did nothing to hurt his standing as the MVC's top shot maker in league play by going 4-of-5 from the field.

It was a defensive struggle that resulted in 52 combined fouls and and 67 trips to the free throw line by both teams. ISU hit 20-of-53 from the field (37.7 percent) and limited Evansville to 18-of-52 shooting (34.6 percent). The Sycamores hit nine 3-pointers in the game -- eight of which came before the half. Of ISU's 10 first half field goals, eight were from behind the arc and another was a Brandon Murphy 3-point play. Despite the amount of success from outside in the first half, the Sycamores still held a 22-18 edge in the paint. 

Evansville had taken the ISU lead down to eight points and were close to getting a big stop near the four minute mark but the ball was reversed at the end of the shot clock to Qiydar Davis who drilled his third 3-pointer of the game from the top of the key and the Sycamore lead grew back to 63-52. 

A pair of Barnes free throws with 2:58 remaining stretched the Sycamores lead out to 67-54. Evansville made it interesting from there by scoring nine in a row capped by a Dru Smith trifecta with 47 seconds to go to get the ISU lead down to 67-63. Scott hit 1-of-2 free throws to push the lead back out to five, before a conventional 3-point play from Blake Simmons cut the Sycamore lead down to 68-66 with 33 seconds remaining. Brenton Scott hit a pair of free throws with 24 seconds on the clock to stretch the lead out to 70-66 and Key came down with a big defensive rebounds to get a stop with 12 seconds remaining. The freshman was fouled for the 71-66 advantage and time ran out on the Purple Aces and gave the Sycamores their second MVC road victory of the season.

Indiana State's first field goal didn't come until the 14:47 mark of the first half -- but it was a 3-pointer off the hot hand of Brenton Scott which cut an early Evansville lead down to 6-4. Demonte Ojinnaka and Jordan Barnes added 3-pointers in the first eight minutes but Evansville did most of their damage at the charity stripe to take a 12-10 advantage. 

Trailing 21-18, the Sycamores changed the course of the first half with a well timed 9-0 run which featured a Tyreke Key 3-pointer, followed by one by Barnes and then a conventional 3-point play from Brandon Murphy at the 3:53 mark to stake the Sycamores to the 27-21 lead. In fact, the Sycamores did not allow a single Evansville field goal in the final 8:02 of the opening stanza to take a 35-26 lead into the break. 

All seven of ISU's first field goals in the game came from 3-point distance and the first two-point field goal belonged to Murphy at the 3:53 mark but turned into a conventional 3-point play. A lay-up by Brenton Scott with 35 seconds remaining was the only Sycamore field goal in the first half that didn't result in three points and it gave the Sycamores a nine-point lead heading into the locker room. Jordan Barnes hit a trio of 3-pointers to lead ISU with 11 points halfway through the game.

Indiana State picked up where they left off with a dunk from Murphy and then a Tyreke Key breakaway lay-up with 17:46 remaining for the 41-26 lead which forced Evansville to call a quick timeout. The Purple Aces answered with six in a row to get the ISU lead back down to just nine points at 41-32 and ISU called a timeout at the 16:15 mark. It would prove to be an 8-0 run before Scott connected on a lay-up with 15:35 remaining to regain a nine-point advantage.

Tyreke Key missed a driving lay-up with just over 10 minutes remaining but went in amongst the Trees and put back his own shot to give ISU a 51-40 lead. Evansville got the deficit down to single digits again, but once again the Sycamores had the answer. Barnes found Murphy with a perfect dime in the paint and Murphy converted the dunk with just over eight minutes to go to stretch the ISU cushion out to 53-42. 

Barnes grabbed a big defensive rebound as the clock ticked under the seven minute mark and then Tyreke Key went deep into the paint to hit a lay-up and draw the foul. His 3-point paly staked the Sycamores to a 58-46 lead. After two more free throws from the Purple Aces, Rickman scored on a thunderous dunk with 6:09 remaining which pushed ISU ahead 60-48. Quickly the Purple Aces scored on consecutive trips down the floor to whittle the ISU lead down to eight points.

Dru Smith led the way for the Purple Aces with 23 points.

Indiana State returns to action on Saturday, January 20 when they host Illinois State at 2 pm (ET). It is ISU Athletics Hall of Fame weekend as the Sycamores will honor John McNichols, Kylie Hutson, John Allman and Jim Cruse.