UNI men’s basketball traveled to Southern Illinois on Wednesday, Jan. 23 to take on the Salukis in a Missouri Valley Conference matchup. The Panthers fell to the Salukis for the second time this season with a score of 70-62.

The purple and gold started out strong, leading by 21 points and going into the half with the score 35-19.

Coming out of the first half, the Salukis put the hammer down on the Panther defense as they went on a 15-2 run, cutting the lead down to two.

The Salukis then tied the game with 8:41 left in the first half, and never looked back.

Southern Illinois ultimately scored 51 points and only allowed 27, in order to pull off the eight-point win, 70-62.

On Saturday night, the UNI men returned to the McLeod Center to take on the University of Evansville Purple Aces.

The Panthers led the Aces for most of the first half but went into halftime down five 36-31.

Evansville started the second half hot, as they extended the lead to 48-39, but the purple and gold stormed back, regaining their lead with 9:27 to go and controlling the game from then on.

The Panthers scored 50 points in the second half to complete the win 81-74.

UNI met the night with many career bests as Spencer Haldeman scored 24 with 21 coming in the second half.

Trae Berhow also broke a personal record, as he tied his career high with 19 and finished with a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds. Luke McDonnell also recorded a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

The Panthers improved to 9-12 following the win over the Aces and will travel to Chicago, Ill. to take on Loyola (12-8) this coming Wednesday, Jan. 30.