EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The University of Northern Iowa basketball team keeps racking up the milestones.

As a result, the Panthers find themselves in uncharted territory.

UNI stymied Evansville's top two scorers - seniors Shy Ely and Jason Holsinger - to 3-for-22 shooting Tuesday night and walked out of Roberts Stadium with a 58-47 triumph before an announced crowd of 5,347.

The Panthers (11-6, 5-1 MVC) remained tied atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings with Bradley and are off to their best league start in 18 years as Valley members.

"We can't be satisifed," sophomore guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe said.

"We've still got a lot of games to go. We can be happy for the next hour or two, but once we touch down in Waterloo, it's time to get ready for the next one."

In each Valley win, UNI has recorded a signature moment for its program. It prevailed at Creighton and Southern Illinois for the first time in more than a decade. It posted its largest margin of victory ever over Wichita State, and the Panthers shot a school-record 81.8 percent in the first half against Missouri State.

"We just need to keep building," forward Lucas O'Rear said. "We can still get better."

Despite 15 turnovers and 4-for-15 shooting from the arc, UNI relied on its defense to register its fifth straight win and eighth in a row over Evansville (11-5, 3-3).

It was the fewest points UNI has allowed in a game during head coach Ben Jacobson's 2 1/2 seasons.

Ely, who came into the game as the league's top scorer at 17.5 points per game, missed his first 13 shots and didn't make a basket until less than 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the contest.

Holsinger was held scoreless for more than 33 minutes and finished with just four points. The 11 points the two combined for were nearly 20 below their season average.

"We played really good defense tonight," said guard Ali Farokhmanesh, who led another balanced scoring attack with 11 points. "(Ely) was pretty much on lockdown for most of the game."

The Aces, held to a season-low point total, were 18 of 55 (32.7 percent) from the field. It's the sixth time in seven games UNI has limited an opponent below 40 percent.

The Panthers threw several different players at Ely, but it was primarily Ahelegbe's assignment.

"Everybody played a part," Ahelegbe said. "We just did a good job of staying in front of him. It was suffocating."

Evansville, which suffered its first home loss in 11 tries, only scored two points in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the second half.

"We were fortunate that they missed a lot of jump shots," Jacobson said, "but I thought we did a good job of playing help defense on Ely.

"And with Holsinger, we just wanted to corral him as much as possible. A lot of times that takes two guys."

UNI used two big runs - one in each half - to separate itself. Fueled by a 10-0 surge midway through the opening 20 minutes, the Panthers built a 22-11 advantage.

Travis Brown, who hadn't taken a shot in the past two games, came off the bench to bury two 3-pointers.

"Travis was big," Jacobson said. "Trav is playing a different role this year, but he continues to practice hard and does a great job with his leadership. He's stayed upbeat and 100 percent into the team.

"It paid off tonight. He's going to have more games like this where he doesn't get a lot of shots, but they will be big shots and he'll make them."

Then, leading 28-20 at halftime, UNI tallied eight quick points to start the second half. Jordan Eglseder, who sat for the last 12 1/2 minutes of the first half with two fouls, scored two buckets - including an offensive putback - grabbed two rebounds and blocked a shot in the opening three minutes.

"The first half was frustrating, so it motivated me to get in there and go to work," Eglseder said.

His teammates noticed.

"It was Jordan Eglseder, that's it," said O'Rear, who chipped in eight points and six rebounds. "He came out ready to play. It's not easy to sit for that long, but he really showed some poise, and that he's a veteran."

UNI ballooned the cushion to 20 with 10 minutes left before Evansville chipped away, but he Aces never got closer than 10.

"I just felt like our team didn't come out with the intensity like we have in a lot of other games, but you've got to give credit to UNI for that," Evansville coach Marty Simmons said. "They really took us out of the things we wanted to do.

"At times, we didn't execute and we got impatient. We tried to shoot our way through it."

Cedar Rapids natives Nate Garner and Kaylon Williams led the Aces with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Ahelegbe finished with 10 points for UNI, while four other players had at least six points.

"Our guys knew this was going to be a huge challenge with how hard and how tough Evansville plays every possession," Jacobson said. "This was a big win, an important win from that standpoint."

SHORT SHOTS: UNI didn't win its first road game until Dec. 31 at Southern Illinois. The Panthers have now won their first three in the Valley, marking the first time they've done that since joining the MVC in 1991-92. … Farokhmanesh, who was in double figures just three times in the first 10 games, has reached 10 or more points in six of UNI's last seven outings. … The Panthers five-game win streak matches the longest since the 2006-07 season.

Contact Matt Coss at (319) 291-1468 or matt.coss@wcfcourier.com

N. Iowa Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Koch 33 2-6 4-5 6 3 2 8

Eglseder 9 2-5 1-2 4 1 4 5

Farokhmanesh 27 3-6 3-4 1 0 3 11

Ahelegbe 29 2-8 6-6 4 1 2 10

Moran 31 2-5 2-3 5 2 1 6

Brown 12 2-2 0-0 2 0 3 6

Dunham 16 1-3 0-0 3 1 0 2

O'Rear 32 4-5 0-0 6 1 3 8

Rodenberg 5 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2

Team 2

Totals 200 19-43 4-15 34 9 18 58

E'ville Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Garner 26 5-7 2-3 5 1 2 12

Ely 36 2-15 3-4 7 2 1 7

van Tongeren 11 1-3 0-2 4 0 3 2

Williams 36 5-11 0-0 4 5 5 11

Holsinger 33 1-7 2-2 2 4 3 4

Lacey 13 0-3 0-0 0 1 2 0

Haarsma 15 0-1 0-0 3 0 3 0

Holmes 18 4-6 1-2 2 1 2 11

Hopf 12 0-2 0-0 2 1 1 0

Team 3

Totals 200 18-55 8-13 32 15 22 47

Northern Iowa 28 30 - 58

Evansville 20 27 - 47

3-point goals - UNI 4-15 (Farokhmanesh 2-5, Brown 2-2, Moran 0-3, Eglseder 0-2, Dunham 0-1, Rodenberg 0-1, Ahelegbe 0-1); Evansville 3-8 (Holmes 2-2, Williams 1-1, Holsinger 0-2, Lacey 0-1, Ely 0-1, Haarsma 0-1). Turnovers - UNI 15 (Ahelegbe 6); Evansville 13 (Williams 4). Steals - UNI 7 (Moran 4); Evansville 4 (Williams 3). Blocks - UNI 6 (O'Rear 2); Evansville 1 (van Tongeren).

Officials - Janssen, Hall, Eades. Att. - 5,347.