ST. LOUIS – UNI men’s basketball’s season came to a close on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers fell to the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) regular season champion and top-seeded Indiana State Sycamores in the semifinal round of Arch Madness at Enterprise Center.
After winning their last three games of the regular season and a quarterfinal win over Belmont on Friday, Northern Iowa struggled to slow the Sycamores’ high-octane three-point shooting effort. The Panthers finish the year with a 19-14 record, a five-win improvement from a year ago and the 13th winning season under head coach Ben Jacobson.
Indiana State would come out and hit the Panthers with a barrage of three-point baskets, drilling five of its first seven attempts, including four by Robbie Avila. The Sycamores’ speed on the offensive end of the floor put UNI into a large hole early, shooting 51.6% in the first 20 minutes of play and holding Northern Iowa to 38.7%. After Indiana State jumped ahead by 19 points, UNI closed the gap with an 8-0 run, aided by three steals by RJ Taylor and back-to-back three-pointers by Nate Heise and Bowen Born. Taylor would sink a triple in the final minutes of the opening period as the Panthers managed to slow the Sycamores late and go into the locker room trailing 44-33.
Indiana State continued its hot shooting afternoon with seven made three-pointers on 63.3% total shooting in the final 20 minutes, as UNI struggled to establish a strong presence to rebound the ball. Huston continued his stellar day on offense with eight second-half points, while Born scored nine points, including four made free throws.
Hutson finished with a season-high 21 points, while Born tallied 12 points. Heise notched ten points as Anderson posted seven points with a team-high eight rebounds. Landon Wolf finished with six points and Taylor notched five points.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
UNI’s loss is its fourth straight to Indiana State as the Panthers fall to 31-37 all-time against the Sycamores. ISU also improves to 2-1 against Northern Iowa in the MVC Tournament in the first meeting between the two programs in St. Louis since the 2009 quarterfinal round.
Northern Iowa is now 29-26 all-time in the MVC Tournament and 7-5 in the semifinal round, including 5-4 in semifinals under head coach Ben Jacobson.
Tytan Anderson finished the season having scored at least 65 consecutive games, the longest streak among active Panthers.
Bowen Born surpassed 400 points on the season with his 12-point game on Saturday. This is the second straight year the junior guard has posted 400+ points in a season. Born also ends the year having scored in double figures in 21 of his last 25 games.
Born finishes the year having shot 91-of-103 from the free throw line for an 88.3% clip, the third-highest single-season mark in school history.