ST. LOUIS -- — Kobe King and Sheldon Edwards scored 18 points apiece as Valparaiso cruised to an 81-59 victory over Evansville in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament on Thursday night.

Preston Ruedinger added 12 points for the Beacons (13-17), while Ben Krikke and Thomas Kithier each scored 10. Edwards also had seven rebounds.

Noah Frederking had 13 points and six rebounds to pace the Purple Aces (6-24). Evan Kuhlman and Blake Sisley both scored 13.

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Portions of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com