Evansville beats Valparaiso for 21st straight time

Updated: Feb 8, 2018, 03:39 am

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Ryan Taylor scored 31 points on 10-of-23 shooting for his fifth 20-point game in a row, and Evansville beat in-state foe Valparaiso 63-59 on Wednesday night for its 21st straight series win dating to 1969.

K.J. Riley added nine points with six boards and Taylor had seven rebounds for the Purple Aces (16-10, 6-7 Missouri Valley Conference), who shot 46.8 percent from the floor in winning four of their last five.

Taylor scored seven straight points, including a go-ahead jumper, and Evansville led 53-47 on Dainius Chatkevicius' back-to-back dunks with 4:24 left. Valparaiso closed to 56-54 on Markus Golder's jumper and trailed 60-57 on his 3 with 30 seconds to go. Max Joseph's layup drew them to 62-59 with 2 seconds left but Noah Frederking's free throw iced it.

Mileek McMillan's back-to-back 3s helped Valparaiso to a 32-31 lead at halftime.

Golder and Bakari Evelyn scored 15 points apiece for the Crusaders (12-14, 3-10), who have lost seven of their last eight.