The Northern Iowa men’s basketball team closed out the regular season with a 82-70 win on Sunday against Southern Illinois. The win solidifies the No. 4 seed for the Panthers in the upcoming MVC Tournament.
Bowen Born led the Panthers in scoring with 19 points, which was his best offensive performance this season since Jan. 7 versus Indiana State. “I just stayed in attack mode on offense,” said Born in a postgame interview. “I haven’t been playing that well as of late, just kept my confidence and my teammates were setting great screens to get me open.”
Born jumpstarted the offense with a jumper to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead 13 seconds in. After a Jacob Hutson block, Southern Illinois regrouped and scored a 3-point basket to take a 3-2 lead.
Leading 4-3 early, Born struck once again this time with a 3-pointer. After a Salukis turnover, Trey Campbell buried a jump shot to give the Panthers a 9-3 lead with 17:36 to go in the half. After two minutes of scoreless basketball, the Salukis cut the lead to 9-6 with a 3-point basket. On their next two offensive possessions, the Salukis struck again with a putback dunk and a two-point hook shot to give them a 10-9 lead.
After multiple possessions for both times ended up at the free-throw line, Born hit another jump shot to give the Panthers a 14-12 lead with 11:34 to go in the first half. The Salukis regained the lead shortly after with a made free-throw and a putback layup on an offensive rebound.
On the Panthers next offensive possession, Hutson made a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 17-15 lead. Hutson is starting to add that element to his game, as he’s made six 3-pointers over the last three games. He only had one made three all season before that.
The Panthers offense continued to make noise with made jump shots by Landon Wolf and RJ Taylor to extend the lead to 21-15 with 8:49 to go in the first half.
After a quick 5-0 run by Salukis to cut the Panther lead to one, Campbell silenced the crowd with a 3-pointer. Campbell followed that up with a made jump shot on the next possession to extend the Panther lead to 26-20.
After a two-point basket by the Salukis, Hutson made a layup to extend the Panther lead to 28-22.
With just under two minutes to go in the first half, Southern Illinois cut the Panther lead to 30-29. After a Tytan Anderson made a free throw, the Salukis regained the lead with a 3-pointer to make it 32-31. Panthers forward Anderson responded right away with a 3-pointer to give them a 34-32 lead.
The Salukis tied the game with two made free throws with a minute to go in the half, as both teams went into the locker room tied at 34-34.
After a quick layup by the Salukis to start the second half, Born snatched the lead right back for the Panthers with a 3-pointer to make it 37-36.
Both teams exchanged baskets on their following possessions which included a made layup by Hutson. On the Panthers next possession, Born drew a foul beyond the three-point line and was awarded three free throws. Born made all three shots to give the Panthers a 42-38 lead with 18:06 to go in the game.
The Panthers offense proceeded to go on a 4-0 scoring run courtesy of a Anderson layup and two made free throws by Campbell to give them a 46-38 lead.
The Salukis offense responded by scoring on back to back possessions, but still trailed 48-41 with 15:16 to go.
Approaching the middle of the second half, the Panthers did a good job getting to the line and knocking down free throws. Hutson and Wolf both went 2 for 2 on free throws on back to back offensive possessions to extend the Panthers lead to 52-43.
The Panthers built on that lead with a 6-2 offensive run with two made free throws by Campbell and two point jump shots made by Taylor and Cole Henry to make it 58-45.
With the Panthers leading 62-49, The Saluki offense caught fire with back to back 3-point baskets to cut the lead to 62-55 with 9:10 to go in the game.
After two made free throws by the Salukis to cut the lead to five, Michael Duax got the Panthers offense back on track with a layup. On the following possession Nate Heise got to the rim and slammed it home to extend the Panthers lead to 66-57.
Down 68-57 with under seven minutes to go, The Saluki offense fought back with a made layup and a 3-point basket to make it 68-62.
With 5:11 to go, Hutson hit his second 3-pointer of the night to quiet the Salukis run. On the following possession, Hutson struck again to three to put the game out of reach at 74-62 with 3:53 to go.
The Panthers were only 50% from the free-throw line the rest of the game, but it was enough to get the job done, winning the game 82-70.
The Panthers will head to St. Louis this week to get ready for their first game of the MVC Tournament on Friday. Born honed in on how important Sunday’s win going into this week in the postgame: “Everybody wants to play their best basketball right now, it will definitely be a confidence booster going on the road versus a very good team and getting a win.” The Panthers will play the winner of the Belmont versus Valparaiso game, which takes place on Thursday.
