ST. LOUIS — Trey Campbell had 23 points in Northern Iowa’s 68-59 victory over Evansville on Thursday in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Campbell added three blocks for the Panthers (20-12). Will Hornseth scored 13 points while going 5 of 11 and 3 of 6 from the free-throw line, and added eight rebounds. Tristan Smith had 10 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.

AJ Casey finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and two steals for the Purple Aces (7-25). Evansville also got 15 points and five rebounds from Leif Moeller. Trent Hundley also had 14 points.

Campbell scored 11 points in the first half and Northern Iowa went into the break trailing 36-35. Northern Iowa outscored Evansville by 10 points in the second half. Campbell led the way with 12 second-half points.

UNI 68, Evansville 59

EVANSVILLE (7-25) — Casey 6-15 9-10 23, Hughes 1-4 0-0 2, Hemenway 2-8 0-0 5, Moeller 6-13 1-2 15, Quinet 0-3 0-0 0, Hundley 4-6 2-3 14, Dyson-Merwe 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS 19-51 12-15 59.

N. IOWA (20-12) — Hornseth 5-11 3-6 13, Smith 4-5 2-4 10, Campbell 8-19 2-2 23, Weisbrod 1-5 5-6 7, Bond 3-12 4-4 10, Schwieger 1-4 0-0 2, Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Diouf 1-2 0-0 3, Hutchins 0-1 0-0 0, Pock 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23-60 16-22 68.

Halftime–Evansville 36-35. 3-Point Goals–Evansville 9-25 (Hundley 4-6, Casey 2-5, Moeller 2-6, Hemenway 1-5, Hughes 0-3), UNI 6-28 (Campbell 5-12, Diouf 1-2, Hutchins 0-1, Taylor 0-1, Schwieger 0-2, Weisbrod 0-4, Bond 0-6). Fouled Out–Hundley. Rebounds–Evansville 31 (Casey 10), UNI 36 (Smith 13). Assists–Evansville 10 (Casey, Moeller 3), UNI 16 (Smith 4). Total Fouls–Evansville 18, UNI 17. A–8,960 (21,000).