Kyle Weems' third double-double of the season led Missouri State to a 52-46 victory over Evansville in a first-round game at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament Thursday night.
Weems had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Bears (20-11), who will meet second-seeded Wichita State (23-8) in the quarterfinals Friday night.
Denver Holmes scored 13 points to pace the 10th-seeded Purple Aces (9-21), who had been on a modest two-game winning streak.
Missouri State, which notched its first 20-win season since 2006-07, swept Evansville in the regular season and made it three in a row with this victory.
After losing its first 13 conference games, Evansville finished 3-2 with victories over league champion Northern Iowa, Wichita State and Drake.
The game was close late until Evansville went scoreless over the last 3:22 and Missouri State finished on a 7-0 run.
