Northern Iowa opened the second half with an 11-0 run and never looked back as the Panthers ended Illinois States season with a 68-54 win in the quarterfinals of the 2004 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Saturday.
The Redbirds ended their campaign with a 10-19 record, while the Panthers improved to 19-9 and advanced to the semifinals to face the winner of the Drake-Wichita State game.
Trailing 30-26 at the half, Illinois State let the game get away as Northern Iowa used an 11-0 run to push the lead to 41-26 with 14:47 left in the game. Junior Trey Guidry ended the Redbirds five and a half minute scoring drought, and UNIs spurt, to open the second frame with a jumper at the 14:35 mark.
UNI pushed the lead to as many as 16 in the second half, but a three-point play by Guidry at the 2:29 mark closed the gap to 60-51.
Guidry led all scorers with 22 points, including a 3-for-5 effort on treys. Vince Greene chipped in 13 points and Najeeb Echols added 10. Greene will also carry his free throw streak into the 2004-05 season after making 2-of-2 and extending the string to 44 consecutive makes from the line.
UNIs David Gruber led the charge for the Panthers with 19 points, including 15 in the first half. Erik Crawford tossed in 13 tallies, Ben Jacobson poured in 12 and Pete Schmit came off of the bench to dump in 11.
