Illinois States late second half run against Northern Iowa nearly resulted in a victory Sunday, but the Panthers hung on down the stretch, winning the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams 64-61 at Redbird Arena.
Illinois State dropped to 4-4 and 0-1 in Valley play, while Northern Iowa moved to 5-3 and 1-0.
Northern Iowa jumped out to a 15-8 lead after a reverse basket by Ben Jacobson (22 points). But Neil Plank responded with a three-pointer along the left baseline and a layup, closing the gap to four at 15-11. However, Jacobson answered with a three and the inside play of David Gruber kept the Redbirds at a distance early on.
The Panthers largest lead of the first half was 11 when Jacobson responded with a jumper, putting his team up 28-17. Chris Burras would not let the game slip away, however, as the sophomore forward hit a pair of baskets, while another Plank jumper trimmed the Northern Iowa lead to five at 28-23.
Matt Schneiderman gave Northern Iowa the momentum going into halftime when he hit a baseline three with 49 seconds left, making the score 36-27. Schneiderman equaled the Panthers largest lead of the half at 11 when he hit a layup as time expired, making the score 38-27 at intermission.
Jacobson scored 13 points in the first half and continued his scoring tear at the start of the second half, scoring six straight, answering a three-pointer from Vince Greene and hook shot from Greg Dilligard.
A pair of Chris Foster free throws gave Northern Iowa their biggest lead of the game at 50-34 with 14:30 remaining.
However, the Birds slowly began to chip away at that lead behind the play of Marcus Arnold. After scoring only one point in the first half, Arnold began to show signs of life, scoring six straight at one point, trimming the Panther lead to 10 at 56-46.
A Trey Guidry three-pointer cut the Northern Iowa lead to 56-49, and suddenly the Birds had taken the momentum with eight minutes left in the game. A Guidry layup made the score 56-51, but a Jacobson free throw ended a 9-0 Redbird run.
Najeeb Echols tied the game 57-57 after his steal led to a layup on a pass from Guidry. Guidry tied the game again at 59-59 with two free throws, but the Redbirds would get no closer.
The Panthers were up 62-61 with just under a minute left, and a pair of Foster free throws with 15.8 seconds to go sealed the Northern Iowa win.
Guidry led all Redbird scorers with 13 points, while Burras chipped in 10. Arnold led all Illinois State rebounders with seven.
Illinois State will travel to Carbondale next Sunday for a 2:05 p.m. game against Southern Illinois.
